Extreme physiology: Biomass and transcriptional profiling of three abandoned Agave cultivars

• Autor(a) principal: Raya, Fabio Trigo
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Marone, Marina Pupke, Carvalho, Lucas Miguel, Rabelo, Sarita Candida [UNESP], de Paula, Maiki Soares, Campanari, Maria Fernanda Zaneli, Freschi, Luciano, Mayer, Juliana Lischka Sampaio, Silva, Odilon Reny Ribeiro Ferreira, Mieczkowski, Piotr, Carazzolle, Marcelo Falsarella, Pereira, Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2021.114043; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/222420
• topic: Abiotic stress; Biomass; Genetic resources; RNA-Seq; Sisal

Agaves have been used for centuries as a feedstock in dryland areas for fibers, food, and beverages, and have enormous potential for biofuel production. Brazil is the world's largest producer of Agave fiber (sisal). However, since the development of synthetic fibers, the national investment in Agave research has decreased drastically, leading to the cessation of the country's breeding programs. What is left of the Brazilian elite cultivars were planted at a germplasm bank in the middle of the semiarid. Surprisingly, after 7 years of abandonment, the plants were still healthy and did not show any clear signs of stress. Here, we aimed to investigate how these plants managed to cope with this environment and the molecular basis of their biomass traits. We assembled the transcriptomic atlas of Agave sisalana, Agave fourcroydes, and Agave hybrid 11648 ((A. amaniensis x A. angustifolia) x A. amaniensis). We observed that the cultivars activated a highly overlapping set of stress-response genes, which were the most expressed transcripts. Also, raffinose was detected at high concentrations, possibly acting as an osmolyte, though differences at its biosynthesis have been found depending on cultivar. Finally, we observed differences in recalcitrance that could be attributed to lignin composition and its biosynthetic pathway. Our data contribute new insights that can help molecular breeders to correspond to emerging expectations for Agave as biorenewables feedstocks for dryland areas.