Abstract
BackgroundA major constraint affecting the quality and productivity of chrysanthemum is the unusual period of low temperature occurring during early spring, late autumn, and winter. Yet, there has been no systematic investigation on the genes underlying the response to low temperature in chrysanthemum. Herein, we used RNA-Seq platform to characterize the transcriptomic response to low temperature by comparing different transcriptome of Chrysanthemum nankingense plants and subjecting them to a period of sub-zero temperature, with or without a prior low temperature acclimation.ResultsSix separate RNA-Seq libraries were generated from the RNA samples of leaves and stems from six different temperature treatments, including one cold acclimation (CA), two freezing treatments without prior CA, two freezing treatments with prior CA and the control. At least seven million clean reads were obtained from each library. Over 77% of the reads could be mapped to sets of C. nankingense unigenes established previously. The differentially transcribed genes (DTGs) were identified as low temperature sensing and signalling genes, transcription factors, functional proteins associated with the abiotic response, and low temperature-responsive genes involved in post-transcriptional regulation. The differential transcription of 15 DTGs was validated using quantitative RT-PCR.ConclusionsThe large number of DTGs identified in this study, confirmed the complexity of the regulatory machinery involved in the processes of low temperature acclimation and low temperature/freezing tolerance.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-844) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
A major constraint affecting the quality and productivity of chrysanthemum is the unusual period of low temperature occurring during early spring, late autumn, and winter
Many differentially transcribed genes (DTGs) encoding serine/threonine-protein kinases were found in the CKA, CKC1 and CKC2 treatments; no gene was detected in the comparisons, A vs C1 and A vs C2. These findings provided evidence for the crucial role of Ca2+ in the low temperature acclimation process in C. nankingense, and further proved that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway and serine/threonine-protein kinases are more strongly involved in the response to freezing
An overview of the many changes to the C. nankingense transcriptome induced by exposure to low temperature has been provided
Summary
A major constraint affecting the quality and productivity of chrysanthemum is the unusual period of low temperature occurring during early spring, late autumn, and winter. Chrysanthemum plants are susceptible to damage when exposed to prolonged periods of low temperature; improving their tolerance to cold stress is perceived as an important breeding goal. C. nankingense has been considered as a convenient genomic model due to its simple diploid nature It Temperature is a major determinant of the geographical distribution and length of the growing season in most plant species [5,6]. The molecular basis of cold acclimation (CA) and low temperature/freezing tolerance in chrysanthemum has not yet been explored. We aim to fish out candidate genes underlying the process of CA and response to low /freezing temperature, which will help to elucidate the molecular basis of the cold response in C. nankingense, and improve the chrysanthemum varieties cold tolerance
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