Abstract
Key message
We characterized genes that function in the photoperiodic flowering pathway in cassava. Transcriptome analysis of field-grown plants revealed characteristic expression patterns of these genes, demonstrating that field-grown cassava experiences two distinct developmental transitions.
Abstract
Cassava is an important crop for both edible and industrial purposes. Cassava develops storage roots that accumulate starch, providing an important source of staple food in tropical regions. To facilitate cassava breeding, it is important to elucidate how flowering is controlled. Several important genes that control flowering time have been identified in model plants; however, comprehensive characterization of these genes in cassava is still lacking. In this study, we identified genes encoding central flowering time regulators and examined these sequences for the presence or absence of conserved motifs. We found that cassava shares conserved genes for the photoperiodic flowering pathway, including florigen, anti-florigen and its associated transcription factor (GIGANTEA, CONSTANS, FLOWERING LOCUS T, CENTRORADIALIS/TERMINAL FLOWER1 and FD) and florigen downstream genes (SUPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1 and APETALA1/FRUITFUL). We conducted RNA-seq analysis of field-grown cassava plants and characterized the expression of flowering control genes. Finally, from the transcriptome analysis we identified two distinct developmental transitions that occur in field-grown cassava.
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03 May 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-022-01271-y
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by MEXT KAKENHI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas, Numbers 16H06464, 16K21727 and 16H06466 for H.T., Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Number 16H02532, JSPS grant Strategic Young Researcher Overseas Visits Program for Accelerating Brain Circulation and Program for Fostering Globally Talented Researchers to H.S.. This research was undertaken as part of and funded by the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) and supported by CGIAR Fund Donors (http://www.cgiar.org/about-us/our-funders/) and USAID.
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BB and HTsuji conceived the research. BB, MGS, MI, LAB and H.Tsuji designed experiments. HC provided genotypic information of cassava cultivars used in this study. BB cultivated plants in the field, sampled and extracted RNA. KY prepared RNA-seq libraries and AH mapped and quantified sequenced reads. HTsuji, AH, HTokunaga, YU and MS analyzed RNA-seq data. BB and HTsuji wrote the manuscript.
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The original version of this article was revised: Hernan Ceballos was missing from the authors section.
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Behnam, B., Higo, A., Yamaguchi, K. et al. Field-transcriptome analyses reveal developmental transitions during flowering in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz). Plant Mol Biol 106, 285–296 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-021-01149-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-021-01149-5