Cluster analysis of soybean pathogen-responsive genes and functional characterization in Arabidopsis

Defense against pathogens involves coordinated activation/deactivation of thousands of genes. When plants defend against some pathogens, the presence/absence of a single gene can make all the difference between resistance and susceptibility. For other diseases, like white mold caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum and sudden death syndrome (SDS) caused by Fusarium virguliforme, defense requires several genes, and therefore defense is controlled by quantitative trait loci (QTL). To understand plant defense and the genes involved, patterns of gene expression were used to identify genes that tend to be coordinately regulated across multiple disease reactions. Hierarchical clustering of soybean gene expression in response to pathogens including S. sclerotiorum, F. virguliforme, and Pseudomonas syringae, as well as soybean response to various non-pathogenic treatments, allowed for the identification of 11 candidate pathogen-specific responsive genes. Full-length cDNA of six candidate pathogen responsive genes of interest were cloned into Escherichia coli, and two of them, Glyma07g05480.1 (an O-methyltransferase) and Glyma18g45260.1 (a dihydroflavonol-4-reductase/cinnamoyl-CoA reductase), were cloned into an Agrobacterium tumefaciens binary vector and transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana to determine if these genes have a cross-species effect on enhancing disease resistance. This ongoing research project provides genes to be used for promoter analysis and identifies genes specific to pathogen infection. Genes will later be transformed into soybean to determine if they enhance resistance, and if so, their sequences can be developed into molecular markers to assist breeders in development of more resistant varieties and possibly used to develop transgenics with enhanced resistance.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Crop Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• He, Yanyu

Contributors dc:contributor

• Clough, Steven J.

• soybean
• gene expression
• clustering
• pathogen-responsive
• plant
• disease
• Arabidopsis
• promoter

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2012 Yanyu He

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/42443

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/42443