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Title: Light and temperature effects on miR156 transgenic switchgrass flowering: A simulated latitudinal study

Abstract

The control of flowering in perennial grasses is an important trait, especially among biofuel feedstocks. Lignocellulosic biomass may be increased commensurate with decreased or delayed flowering as the plant allocates energy for stems and leaves harvested for bioenergy at the end of the growing season. For transgenic feedstocks, such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) grown in its geographic center of distribution, it is foreseeable that regulators may require greatly decreased gene flow frequencies to enable commercialization. Transgenic switchgrass with various overexpression levels of a rice microRNA gene, miR156, when grown in field conditions, holds promise for decreased flowering, yielding high biomass, and altered cell wall traits, which renders it as a potential crossing partner for further breeding with switchgrass lines for decreased recalcitrance. In the current research, we simulated a latitudinal cline in controlled growth chamber experiments for various individual sites from the tropics to cool-temperate conditions which included weekly average high and low temperatures and day lengths over the switchgrass growing season for each simulated site: Guayaquil, Ecuador; Laredo, Texas, USA; and Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. Flowering and reproduction among transgenic lines with low (T-14 and T-35)--tomoderate (T-27 and T-37) overexpression of miR156 were assessed. Lower simulated latitudes (higher temperaturesmore » with low-variant day length) and long growing seasons promoted flowering of the miR156 transgenic switchgrass lines. Tropical conditions rescued the flowering phenotype in all transgenic lines except T-27. Higher numbers of plants in lines T-35 and T-37 and the controls produced panicles, which also occurred earlier in the study as temperatures increased and day length decreased. Line T-14 was the exception as more clonal replicates flowered in the cool-temperate (Vermont) conditions. Increased biomass was found in transgenic lines T-35 and T-37 in tropical conditions. No difference in biomass was found in subtropical (Texas) chambers, and two lines (T-14 and T-35) produced less biomass than the control in cool-emperate conditions. Our findings suggest that switchgrass plants engineered to overexpress miR156 for delayed flowering to promote bioconfinement and biomass production may be used for plant breeding at tropical sites.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  2. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)
  3. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC); Noble Research Institute, LLC, Ardmore, OK (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). BioEnergy Science Center (BESC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE; USDA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)
OSTI Identifier:
1623581
Grant/Contract Number:  
2013-33522-20997
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Plant Direct
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 1; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 2475-4455
Publisher:
Wiley and American Society of Plant Biologists and Society for Experimental Biology
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; plant sciences; flowering time; plant breeding and biotechnology; regulatory RNA/noncoding RNA; switchgrass; transcriptional regulation/regulation of transcription—general

Citation Formats

Johnson, Chelsea R., Millwood, Reginald J., Wang, Zeng-Yu, and Stewart, Charles N. Light and temperature effects on miR156 transgenic switchgrass flowering: A simulated latitudinal study. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/pld3.26.
Johnson, Chelsea R., Millwood, Reginald J., Wang, Zeng-Yu, & Stewart, Charles N. Light and temperature effects on miR156 transgenic switchgrass flowering: A simulated latitudinal study. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.26
Johnson, Chelsea R., Millwood, Reginald J., Wang, Zeng-Yu, and Stewart, Charles N. 2017. "Light and temperature effects on miR156 transgenic switchgrass flowering: A simulated latitudinal study". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/pld3.26. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1623581.
@article{osti_1623581,
title = {Light and temperature effects on miR156 transgenic switchgrass flowering: A simulated latitudinal study},
author = {Johnson, Chelsea R. and Millwood, Reginald J. and Wang, Zeng-Yu and Stewart, Charles N.},
abstractNote = {The control of flowering in perennial grasses is an important trait, especially among biofuel feedstocks. Lignocellulosic biomass may be increased commensurate with decreased or delayed flowering as the plant allocates energy for stems and leaves harvested for bioenergy at the end of the growing season. For transgenic feedstocks, such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) grown in its geographic center of distribution, it is foreseeable that regulators may require greatly decreased gene flow frequencies to enable commercialization. Transgenic switchgrass with various overexpression levels of a rice microRNA gene, miR156, when grown in field conditions, holds promise for decreased flowering, yielding high biomass, and altered cell wall traits, which renders it as a potential crossing partner for further breeding with switchgrass lines for decreased recalcitrance. In the current research, we simulated a latitudinal cline in controlled growth chamber experiments for various individual sites from the tropics to cool-temperate conditions which included weekly average high and low temperatures and day lengths over the switchgrass growing season for each simulated site: Guayaquil, Ecuador; Laredo, Texas, USA; and Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. Flowering and reproduction among transgenic lines with low (T-14 and T-35)--tomoderate (T-27 and T-37) overexpression of miR156 were assessed. Lower simulated latitudes (higher temperatures with low-variant day length) and long growing seasons promoted flowering of the miR156 transgenic switchgrass lines. Tropical conditions rescued the flowering phenotype in all transgenic lines except T-27. Higher numbers of plants in lines T-35 and T-37 and the controls produced panicles, which also occurred earlier in the study as temperatures increased and day length decreased. Line T-14 was the exception as more clonal replicates flowered in the cool-temperate (Vermont) conditions. Increased biomass was found in transgenic lines T-35 and T-37 in tropical conditions. No difference in biomass was found in subtropical (Texas) chambers, and two lines (T-14 and T-35) produced less biomass than the control in cool-emperate conditions. Our findings suggest that switchgrass plants engineered to overexpress miR156 for delayed flowering to promote bioconfinement and biomass production may be used for plant breeding at tropical sites.},
doi = {10.1002/pld3.26},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1623581}, journal = {Plant Direct},
issn = {2475-4455},
number = 5,
volume = 1,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 03 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Fri Nov 03 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Works referenced in this record:

Temperature perception and signal transduction in plants
journal, August 2008


Specific Effects of MicroRNAs on the Plant Transcriptome
journal, April 2005


The Importance of Ambient Temperature to Growth and the Induction of Flowering
journal, August 2016


Transgenic perennial biofuel feedstocks and strategies for bioconfinement
journal, January 2010


Cultural treatments for accelerated growth and flowering of Panicum virgatum
journal, November 2014


Overexpression of the maize Corngrass1 microRNA prevents flowering, improves digestibility, and increases starch content of switchgrass
journal, October 2011


Flowering responses to light and temperature
journal, December 2015


Development of switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) as a bioenergy feedstock in the United States
journal, June 2005


Potent Induction of Arabidopsis thaliana Flowering by Elevated Growth Temperature
journal, July 2006


Latitudinal Adaptation of Switchgrass Populations
journal, January 2004


Light and temperature signal crosstalk in plant development
journal, February 2009


Manipulating microRNAs for improved biomass and biofuels from plant feedstocks
journal, February 2015


Diverse responses of phenology to global changes in a grassland ecosystem
journal, September 2006


Biomass Production in Switchgrass across the United States: Database Description and Determinants of Yield
journal, January 2010


A Simple System for Promoting Flowering of Upland Switchgrass in the Greenhouse
journal, November 2011


Perennial Biomass Grasses and the Mason–Dixon Line: Comparative Productivity across Latitudes in the Southern Great Plains
journal, September 2012


Regulation of flowering time: all roads lead to Rome
journal, April 2011


Gene use restriction technologies for transgenic plant bioconfinement
journal, June 2013


Divergence of reproductive phenology under climate warming
journal, December 2006


Morphological Development of Switchgrass in Diverse Environments
journal, September 1995


Growth and Yield Responses of Switchgrass Ecotypes to Temperature
journal, January 2013


Genetic Manipulation of miR156 for Improvement of Biomass Production and Forage Quality in Red Clover
journal, January 2016


Transgenic miR156 switchgrass in the field: growth, recalcitrance and rust susceptibility
journal, June 2017


Switchgrass Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics
book, January 2012


Regulation of flowering time: all roads lead to Rome
journal, April 2011


Light and temperature signal crosstalk in plant development
journal, February 2009


Divergence of reproductive phenology under climate warming
journal, December 2006


Cultural treatments for accelerated growth and flowering of Panicum virgatum
journal, November 2014


Temperature perception and signal transduction in plants
journal, August 2008


Gene use restriction technologies for transgenic plant bioconfinement
journal, June 2013


Manipulating microRNAs for improved biomass and biofuels from plant feedstocks
journal, February 2015


Transgenic miR156 switchgrass in the field: growth, recalcitrance and rust susceptibility
journal, June 2017


Potent induction of Arabidopsis thaliana flowering by elevated growth temperature
journal, January 2005


Variation between Alamo and Cave‐in‐Rock Switchgrass in Response to Photoperiod Extension
journal, March 2003


Latitudinal Adaptation of Switchgrass Populations
journal, January 2004


A Simple System for Promoting Flowering of Upland Switchgrass in the Greenhouse
journal, November 2011


Genetic Manipulation of miR156 for Improvement of Biomass Production and Forage Quality in Red Clover
journal, January 2016


The Importance of Ambient Temperature to Growth and the Induction of Flowering
journal, August 2016


Transgenic perennial biofuel feedstocks and strategies for bioconfinement
journal, January 2010


Works referencing / citing this record:

Thermocapillary Convective Flows Generated by Laser Points or Patterns: Comparison for the Noncontact Micromanipulation of Particles at the Interface
journal, October 2018