Genome-wide microarray analysis leads to identification of genes in response to herbicide, metribuzin in wheat leaves

PLoS One. 2017 Dec 11;12(12):e0189639. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189639. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Herbicides are an important component of weed management in wheat, particularly in the southeastern US where weeds actively compete with wheat throughout the winter for nutrients and reduce tillering and ultimately the yield of the crop. Some wheat varieties are sensitive to metribuzin, a low-cost non-selective herbicide, leading to leaf chlorosis, stand loss, and decreased yield. Knowledge of the genetics of herbicide tolerance in wheat is very limited and most new varieties have not been screened for metribuzin tolerance. The identification of genes associated with metribuzin tolerance will lead to the development of molecular markers for use in screening breeding lines for metribuzin tolerance. AGS 2035 and AGS 2060 were identified as resistant and sensitive to metribuzin in several previous field screening experiments as well as controlled condition screening of nine varieties in the present study. Genome-wide transcriptome profiling of the genes in AGS 2035 and AGS 2060 through microarray analysis identified 169 and 127 genes to be significantly (2-fold, P>0.01) up- and down-regulated, respectively in response to metribuzin. Functional annotation revealed that genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis, photosynthesis and sucrose metabolism were highly responsive to metribuzin application. (Semi)quantitative RT-PCR of seven selected differentially expressed genes (DEGs) indicated that a gene coding for alkaline alpha-galactosidase 2 (AAG2) was specifically expressed in resistant varieties only after one and two weeks of metribuzin application. Integration of the DEGs into our ongoing mapping effort and identification of the genes within the QTL region showing significant association with resistance in future will aid in development of functional markers for metribuzin resistance.

MeSH terms

  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Genes, Plant*
  • Herbicides / pharmacology*
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / methods*
  • Plant Leaves / drug effects*
  • Plant Leaves / metabolism
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Triazines / pharmacology*
  • Triticum / drug effects*
  • Triticum / metabolism

Substances

  • Herbicides
  • Triazines
  • metribuzin

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Louisiana Grain and Soybean Research and Promotion Board; United State Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.