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Patterns of mitochondrial DNA fragmentation in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds under ex situ genebank storage and artificial aging

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Abstract

Monitoring viability loss of seeds conserved ex situ for timely germplasm regeneration is a challenging task in germplasm management and conservation as the process of seed deterioration under long-term storage remains poorly understood and effective tools for assessing seed deterioration are lacking. This paper reports findings from four experiments that were aimed to study the fragmentation of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) due to degradation in naturally or artificially aged (NA or AA) wheat seeds. Together, it was found that mtDNA fragmentation occurred in aged wheat seeds. More mtDNA fragmentation was observed in AA than NA seeds and degradation was more prominent in abnormal seedling tissues than in normal seedling tissues. Fragmentation of mtDNA was linearly associated with sample germination; more in less viable seed samples. Mitochondria (mt) in aged seeds were found to break throughout the mitochondrial genome with the observed loss of PCR amplification of atp1-5, nad4.2, atp4, and nad9 gene loci and at the roughly 80 kb repetitive region. These findings are useful for understanding the process and involvement of mtDNA degradation in NA or AA wheat seeds and for further exploration to develop aging biomarkers for monitoring seed viability.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Mr. Dallas Kessler for his assistance in the germplasm acquisition for this research.

Funding

This research was financially supported by an A-Base research project of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to YBF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Gene Resources of Canada, Saskatoon Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 107 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0X2, Canada

    Yong-Bi Fu, Zaheer Ahmed, Hui Yang, Carolee Horbach & Gregory W. Peterson

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  1. Yong-Bi Fu
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  2. Zaheer Ahmed
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  3. Hui Yang
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  4. Carolee Horbach
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  5. Gregory W. Peterson
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Correspondence to Yong-Bi Fu.

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Fu, YB., Ahmed, Z., Yang, H. et al. Patterns of mitochondrial DNA fragmentation in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seeds under ex situ genebank storage and artificial aging. Genet Resour Crop Evol 67, 2023–2036 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10722-020-00957-w

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