Gene expression analysis in leaves of 'Bee Hee Kela', a drought-tolerant Musa balbisiana genotype from northeast India

• Published in: Acta horticulturae no. 897; pp. 279 - 280
• Main Authors: Ravishankar, K.V, Rekha, A, Laxman, R.H, Savitha, G, Swarupa, V
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society for Horticultural Science 01.01.2011
• Subjects: bananas; cell membranes; clones; complementary DNA; drought; drought tolerance; ethylene; gas exchange; gene expression; gene expression regulation; genes; genotype; leaves; metabolism; Musa balbisiana; signal transduction; suppression subtractive hybridization; water holding capacity; water stress; water use efficiency; India
• ISSN: 0567-7572
• DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.897.34

Drought is the most limiting environmental factor for plant growth and crop productivity. Understanding the mechanism behind drought tolerance and efficient water use by the plant is necessary to cope with water stress. In this study, banana genotypes contrasting for drought tolerance were identified based on physiological characteristics, such as gas exchange characteristics, leaf water retention capacity and root characteristics. Among the contrasting genotypes of a Musa balbisiana collection from Northeast India, ‘Bee Hee Kela’ (BB) was shown to be more drought tolerant. Suppression subtractive hybridisation was carried out to identify differentially expressed genes in leaves of ‘Bee Hee Kela’ during water stress. Nearly 200 cDNA clones were sequenced and 50 non-redundant sequences were identified. They were characterised based on homology search in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. BLAST search results showed higher similarity with lipoxygenase, rubisco activase, glycine dehydrogenase, catalase and ethylene responsive factor (ERF). These genes might be involved in many cellular functions, such as cell membrane integrity, signal transduction and metabolism in response to dehydration.