Identification of Genes involved in the apomictic reproduction of Eragrostis curvula using cDNA libraries

JOSE ROMERO; MARINA DIAZ; NORMA PANIEGO; JUAN P. SELVA; VIVIANA ECHENIQUE

Termas de Chillán, Chile.

Conferencia; 1st International Conference on Bioinformatics SoIBio 2010; 2010

SoiBio

Eragrostis has a basic chromosome number of x = 10. Include a cytotype series with different ploidy levels (from 2x to 8x) and reproductive modes. Apomixis (clonal reproduction by seeds) is a reproductive mode strongly related to ploidy (2x are sexuals and polyploids are apomicts). The maintaining of homeostasis during polyploidization involve changes in gene expression. The identification of this set of genes will contribute to the elucidation of the molecular basis of apomixis and its relation with ploidy. In previous work we developed a near-isogenic plant system (see below) with different ploidy levels and reproductive modes. This is an ideal system for comparative transcriptome analysis for the identification of gene(s) involved in apomixis. We used ESTs sequencing and analysis to select candidate genes for control apomictic reproduction in grasses. The characterization of libraries was previously published (Cervigni et al., 2008. Plant Mol. Biol. 67: 1-10 and 11-23 ). Here we emphasize in elements of silencing and epigenetic process.