Functional Annotation Of The Transcriptome Of TALL Fescue In Response To WATER Stress.
Monday, November 4, 2013: 8:20 AM
Tampa Convention Center, Room 33, Third Floor
Randy D. Dinkins1, Christopher Schardl2 and Padmaja Nagabhyru2, (1)USDA-ARS, Lexington, KY (2)Department of Plant Pathology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum) plants symbiotic with the endophytic fungus, Neotyphodium coenophialum (E+), have better survivability and persistence under stressful conditions, especially under drought stress, than plants lacking the endophyte (E-). To understand more about the grass-endophyte interactions and how endophyte affects the host plant physiology and gene expression, we conducted a time course water stress experiment in the greenhouse using two genetically identical E+ and E- clone pairs of tall fescue. RNA-Seq analysis was done comparing plants on Day 2 stress to control plants. Analysis was done to compare four tissue types (leaves, pseudostem, crown and root), stress vs non-stressed and presence/absence of the endophyte. Genes in biotic and abiotic stress response pathways were differentially expressed, as were genes in the jasmonic acid and indoditerpene biosynthetic pathway under stress conditions.