Assessment of large-scale transcriptional changes in young sugarcane plants exposed to diverse abiotic stresses

• Grant number: 11/21364-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Márcio de Castro Silva Filho
• Grantee: Fabiana Bombonato Mingossi
• Supervisor: Rosanne Casu
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: CSIRO Plant Industry, Australia
• Associated to the scholarship: 09/15920-2 - Functional studies of plant proteinase inhibitors and serine proteases involved in response to herbivore insects, BP.DR

Abstract

Abiotic stress can severely impair plant growth and performance. Environmental factors, such as drought, extreme temperatures or low soil fertility are also responsible for significant yield reductions in cultivated areas world-wide. Thus, the responses of plants to various stresses have for decades been the focus of physiological studies and, more recently, of molecular and reverse genetics studies. Plants, being sessile, have evolved specific acclimatization and adaptation mechanisms to respond to and survive short- and long- term adverse conditions. Analysis of these protective mechanisms will contribute to knowledge of plant tolerance and resistance. Sophisticated molecular techniques have been applied to study the interactions between plants and biotic and abiotic stresses, revealing important defense mechanisms in plants. The plant responses to stress are accompanied by major changes in the transcriptome composition, and the availability of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies promises further improvements in transcript profiling. To provide a comprehensive overview of induced changes by unfavorable conditions, this study will use the next-generation technology (RNA-Seq) to analyze young sugarcane plants submitted to different abiotic stresses. (AU)