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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Raleigh, North Carolina » Plant Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #287750
Title: Carbohydrates in oat tillers and their relationship to freezing survival

Author
item Livingston, David
item Tuong, Tan

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/15/2012
Publication Date: 7/2/2012
Citation: Livingston, D.P., Tuong, T.D. 2012. Carbohydrates in oat tillers and their relationship to freezing survival. Meeting Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In grasses the crown is a complex organ from which tillers arise and eventually produce the flower-bearing structure where seeds are eventually born. We have observed that in oats not all tillers have the same ability to survive freezing and while an entire plant may be produced from one surviving tiller, it is not known why one tiller should survive and not another. To better understand the complexity of the crown and the interrelationship of tillers, we developed a technique to reconstruct the crown and view internal meristems in 3 dimensions. Using 3D reconstruction we demonstrate here that while mature oat plants have 3 main tillers, this arrangement is determined by the plant 4 days after germination. To see how carbohydrates may be related to survival of individual tillers in mature plants we used semi-destructive sampling of the stem to determine a representative content of DP3,4, 5 and >5 fructan as well as sucrose, glucose and fructose. After carbohydrate sampling we froze the remaining tissue under controlled conditions at -12C. In more than half the samples a higher concentration of DP3 plus simple sugars were related to regrowth of the tiller. In bulked samples the primary tiller had significantly lower amounts of fructan than secondary and tertiary tillers, but this was not always the case with individual plants and may help to explain the seeming random survival of tillers. Reasons for the difference in carbohydrates between tillers and the difference in survival is not known at this time but could be related to developmental patterns early in the life of the plant. References Hincha DK, Livingston DP III, Premakumar R, Zuther E, Obel N, Cacela C, Heyer AG. 2007. Fructans from oat and rye: Composition and effects on membrane stability during drying. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) 1768:1611-1619 Livingston DP III, Hincha D, Heyer AG. 2009 Fructan and its relationship to abiotic stress tolerance in plants. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences. 66:2007-2023. Livingston DP III Tuong TD, Gadi SRV Haigler CH, Gelman RS, Cullen JM. 2010. 3D reconstructions with pixel-based images are made possible by digitally clearing plant and animal tissue. J of Microscopy 240:122-129.