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Title: Investigation of the Strawberry Acute Cold Response through Transcriptome Sampling

Author
item FOLTA, KEVIN - U. FL, GAINESVILLE
item MISHRA, VIPLAV - U. FL, GAINESVILLE
item RABINOWICZ, PABLO - U. MD MEDICAL SCHOOL
item CHAN, AGNES - J.C. VENTER INSTITUTE
item BIES, DAWN - U. FL, GAINESVILLE
item Slovin, Janet

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2008
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Cultivated strawberry (Fragaria xananassa) is a valuable perennial crop, yet in most growing regions cold temperature stress can dramatically impinge on fresh fruit production. In the interest of long-term crop improvement it is important to understand the molecular response of strawberry to cold, and the underlying basic biology of cold response in the species. Although the molecular mechanisms that contribute to responses to cold are well defined in the model system Arabidopsis thaliana, little is known about these processes in strawberry. To better understand the response to cold, and simultaneously enrich the relatively sparse Fragaria EST collection, a cDNA library was sequenced and characterized from cold-stressed F. vesca seedlings. F. vesca, the woodland strawberry, is diploid and a highly amenable system for initial investigations into strawberry stress responses. Over 10,000 sequences were produced from which 9,936 high quality ESTs were obtained. Analysis of these ESTs resulted in 5,937 unique sequences, many recognizable as being involved in cold responses in other plants, but 23 of which are completely novel to F. vesca. The frequency at which abundant transcripts occurred exclusively in the cold library was analyzed and the cold induction of some of these transcripts was tested. The results show that a specific set of transcripts, including several not normally thought of as cold regulated, are strongly induced within 30 minutes of cold treatment in the mature plant. In the current study, the frequency of a given transcript can be used to infer relevance to this important biological process. This study also describes how the well defined molecular response to cold in the model system translates to a valued horticultural crop.