Anthocyanin: a new biomarker for physiological quality of peanut seeds?

• Grant number: 23/00435-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Crop Science
• Principal Investigator: Edvaldo Aparecido Amaral da Silva
• Grantee: Gustavo Roberto Fonseca de Oliveira
• Supervisor: George William Bassel
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agronômicas (FCA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Warwick, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/14050-3 - Peanut seed maturity disuniformity: physiological, chemical and transcriptomic approach, BP.DR

Abstract

In Brazil, peanut seeds often have low vigor and, as a result, they must be used in large quantities to ensure seedling establishment. Presently, this represents an expected loss of at least 30% of the seeds during the planting phase. In our PhD research we demonstrated that one of the main causes of this low vigor is an uneven maturation process. This causes a lack of seed uniformity, which in turn increases the number of immature seeds harvested. The presence of these immature seeds in commercial lots significantly reduces their performance. In parallel, we found, from multispectral images, a strong correlation of low seed vigor with a higher anthocyanin index. In addition, we found that peanut seeds acquire vigor during their development, while there is a decrease in anthocyanin. Thus, we wonder whether the spectral behavior of anthocyanin in seeds derives from the expression of genes that induce its biosynthesis. This would make it possible to create a robust set of solutions for the accurate analysis of peanut seed vigor by integrating multispectral image technologies and molecular markers. The hypothesis is that during peanut seed development the acquisition of vigor can be detected through the expression of genes related to anthocyanin biosynthesis. This technology allows a more accurate identification of mature peanut seeds and the vigor of seed lots from different commercial cultivars. The aim of this work is to verify whether anthocyanin constitutes a new biomarker of the physiological quality of peanut seeds. The seeds used in this project will be produced in Brazil (harvest 2022/23) and classified in nine developmental stages. Water content, dry mass, germination, desiccation tolerance and vigor will be analyzed. RNA from fresh seeds will be extracted and sequenced. At the University of Warwick (School of Life Sciences, UK) the transcriptome will be studied through bioinformatics analysis. The genes associated with anthocyanin biosynthesis and seed vigor will have their expression validated by Real-Time PCR. This validation will occur in two steps: 1) in seeds from the nine stages of development; 2) in seed lots from different commercial cultivars. (AU)