Germplasm Resources and Breeding of Agave II

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Genetic Resources".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2023) | Viewed by 1760

Special Issue Editor


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Department of Genetic Engineering, CINVESTAV, Irapuato, Guanajuato 36824, Mexico
Interests: genetics and molecular biology of fructan metabolism and reproductive transition in Agave species
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agave species have been exploited in Central and North America as sources of food, fiber, medicinal compounds, and construction materials since the pre-Columbian era. Cam metabolism, particular anatomical traits and fructan metabolism, have converged in agaves, making them uniquely adapted to thrive under hot, arid conditions. Most agave species (>70%) are found in Mexico, where 119 of a total of 210 species are endemic. However, agave germplasm can now be found worldwide either growing wild, being cultivated for fiber or for the production of spirits, or, more recently, being developed as a source of bioenergy. Long life cycles and the perennial monocarpic mode of reproduction have hampered both breeding and the possibility for the detailed genetic analysis of agave species. However, transcriptome-based studies are now enabling the molecular genetic analysis of important characteristics of agave species, such as CAM, fructan and lignin metabolisms, reproductive strategies, and stress tolerance, with a view to improve agave germplasm for commercial production and to incorporate these adaptations into other crop species. The aim of this Special Issue of Plants is to gather information concerning germplasm resources in relation to transcriptome, metabolome, and individual gene studies; classical taxonomy and diversity studies; cultivars exploited for commercial applications; breeding; and methods and applications of in vitro propagation.

Prof. Dr. June Simpson
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • agave species
  • taxonomy
  • adaptive traits
  • germplasm improvement
  • commercial applications
  • in vitro culture
  • omics-based data analysis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 3423 KiB  
Article
Transcriptome Sequencing of Agave amaniensis Reveals Shoot-Related Expression Patterns of Expansin A Genes in Agave
by Xuxia Wang, Xing Huang, Lisha Chen, Zhouli Xie, Shibei Tan, Xu Qin, Tao Chen, Yanlei Huang, Jingen Xi, Helong Chen and Kexian Yi
Plants 2023, 12(10), 2020; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12102020 - 18 May 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1466
Abstract
Agave species are widely planted for fiber production. However, the molecular basis of agave fiber development has not been well understood. In this study, we performed a transcriptomic analysis in A. amaniensi, a well-known variety with high-quality fiber production. Approximately 43.87 million [...] Read more.
Agave species are widely planted for fiber production. However, the molecular basis of agave fiber development has not been well understood. In this study, we performed a transcriptomic analysis in A. amaniensi, a well-known variety with high-quality fiber production. Approximately 43.87 million clean reads were obtained using Illumina sequencing. The de novo assembly produced 66,746 unigrams, 54% of which were annotated in a public database. In the Nr database, 21,490 unigenes of A. amaniensis were shown to be most closely related to Asparagus officinalis. Nine expansin A orthologs with full coding regions were obtained, which were named EXP1a, EXP1b, EXP2, EXP3, EXP4a, EXP4b, EXP11, EXP12, and EXP13. The maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree revealed the species-specific expansion of expansin genes in Arabidopsis, rice and agave. The expression analysis suggested the negative correlation between the expression of expansin genes and the leaf growth rate, except AhEXP11. Moreover, expansin genes were differentially affected by abiotic and biotic stresses. Notably, AhEXP2 expression level was highly upgraded after the infection of Phytophthora nicotiana. Nutrient deficiency also influent expansin genes expression. Together, our research will benefit future studies related to fiber development, disease resistance and nutrient usage in agave. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Germplasm Resources and Breeding of Agave II)
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