Dehydration and vernalization treatments identify overlapping molecular networks impacting endodormancy maintenance in leafy spurge crown buds

Abstract

Leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.) is a herbaceous perennial weed that reproduces vegetatively from an abundance of underground adventitious buds (UABs), which undergo well-defined phases of seasonal dormancy (para-, endo-, and ecodormancy). In this study, the effects of dehydration stress on vegetative growth and flowering potential from endodormant UABs of leafy spurge was monitored. Further, microarray analysis was used to identify critical signaling pathways of transcriptome profiles associated with endodormancy maintenance in UABs. Surprisingly, only 3-day of dehydration stress is required to break the endodormant phase in UABs; however, the dehydration-stress treatment did not induce flowering. Previous studies have shown that prolonged cold treatment of UABs breaks endodormancy and induces a vernalization response leading to flowering. Thus, in this study, comparing transcriptome data from UABs exposed to short-term dehydration and vernalization provided a unique approach to identify overlapping molecular mechanisms involved in endodormancy maintenance and floral competence. Analysis of transcriptome data associated with breaking endodormancy by both environmental treatments identified LEC1, PHOTOSYSTEM I RC, and brassinosteroids as common central hubs of upregulated genes, while DREB1A, CBF2, GPA1, MYC2, bHLH, BZIP, and flavonoids were identified as common central hubs of downregulated genes. The majority of over-represented gene sets common to breaking endodormancy by dehydration stress and vernalization were downregulated and included pathways involved in hormone signaling, chromatin modification, and circadian rhythm. Additionally, the over-represented gene sets highlighted pathways involved in starch and sugar degradation and biogenesis of carbon skeletons, suggesting a high metabolic activity is necessary during the endodormant phase. The data presented in this study helped to refine our previous model for dormancy regulation.