Tropical and Subtropical Agroecosystems (Sep 2022)
DIFFERENTIAL EXPRESSION OF CesA GENES AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH FIBER CONTENT IN HENEQUEN
Abstract
Background: Cellulose synthase is a superfamily where genes involved in the synthesis of the primary and secondary cell wall and their relationship with plant fibers have been reported. In recent years, vegetable fiber has been the subject of considerable interest, due to its quality and the ability to be biodegradable, and it has been reported that the cellulose content is related to the quality of the fiber. Objective: To determine the relationship of CesA genes with fiber content in Agave fourcroydes Lem. Methodology: The relative expression of the CesA3, CesA4 and CesA5 genes involved in the primary and secondary cell wall will be prolonged and their relationship with fiber content will be evaluated in plants of different heights in a henequen plantation. The content of the fiber components was evaluated using the TAPPI methods and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, the means were compared using the Tukey test (p≤ 0.05). Results: Plants with greater height, have longer leaves, with higher cellulose content (48%) and low content of hemicellulose (3%) and lignin (8%), these characteristics are related to high levels of relative expression of the CesA3 and CesA4 genes and low relative expression level of the CesA5 gene. Implications: A direct connection of higher expression of CesA3 and CesA4 genes with the length of the leaves, the height of the plant and the cellulose content is presented. Conclusions: In this research, the exploration between the expression and the length of the leaves serves as a basis for future research focused on the early selection of individuals with high cellulose content, which through plant tissue culture represents an option for genetic improvement for the benefit of crop producers.
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