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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sugarbeet Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #415052
Research Project: Improving Sugarbeet Productivity and Sustainability through Genetic, Genomic, Physiological, and Phytopathological Approaches

Location: Sugarbeet Research

Title: Transcriptional and enzymatic changes in carbohydrate metabolism in wounded sugarbeet taproots

Author
item Fugate, Karen
item FINGER, FERNANDO - Universidade Federal De Vicosa
item Eide, John

Submitted to: PH96 International Postharvest Science Conference New Zealand
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/7/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Sugarbeet roots incur severe injuries from aggressive harvest and piling operations, and these injuries increase root postharvest respiration rate and the incidence of storage diseases. Increased respiration and induction of root defense mechanisms triggered by both wounding and disease necessitates carbohydrate metabolism to generate carbon substrates and metabolic energy to fuel these processes. To understand how wounding alters sugarbeet root primary carbon metabolism to support respiration and defense responses, the effect of wounding on the transcription and activity of enzymes involved in sucrolytic, glycolytic and TCA cycle pathways were determined during the initial 24 h after wounding. Wounding caused rapid changes in soluble sugars composition. Invertase and sucrose synthase genes involved in the catabolism of sucrose to its monosaccharides as well as seven genes that contribute to the glycolytic pathway were differentially expressed in wounded roots. Transcriptional changes for glycolytic genes, but not sucrolytic genes, were generally reflected in changes in enzymatic activities. Glycolytic genes and activities for hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, glyceraldehyde-3-phophate dehydrogenase, and pyruvate kinase were of particular note due to their high level of upregulation. Genes for pyruvate decarboxylase and alcohol dehydrogenase that are responsible for the fermentation of pyruvate to ethanol, as well as their enzymes activities, were also upregulated in response to wounding. The glycolytic pathway was enhanced by wounding due to activation of seven families of genes, leading to a significant decrease in glucose content and an increase in anaerobic fermentation.