Poster: Genomics Resources

Abs # 929: Genomic tools for the enhancement of stress tolerance in grapevine

Presenter:	Cramer, Grant R., cramer@unr.edu
Authors	Cramer, Grant R. (A)   Alkayal, Fadi  (A)   Tattersall, Elizabeth A.R. (A)   Mao, Chunhong  (B)   Cushman, John C (A)
Affiliations:	(A): University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada 89557 (B): Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0477

Abiotic stresses affect important aroma, flavor and color constituents by altering metabolite composition. These changes are associated with improved wine quality and human health benefits. Regulated-deficit irrigation has been used successfully to grow grapes with less water, an important feature in arid regions like Nevada. As a first step toward understanding how growth is affected and wine quality improvements might arise following abiotic stress exposure, we have initiated an expressed sequence tag (EST)-based gene discovery program focused solely on abiotically-stressed plants. We constructed cDNA libraries from mRNA isolated from leaf, root and berry tissues of Vitis vinifera cv. Chardonnay, exposed to various abiotic stress conditions. To date, we have sequenced over 20,000 ESTs and anticipate completing another 30,000 sequences over the next few months. Raw sequence data were processed through an automated EST analysis pipeline (ESTAP; www.vbi.vt.edu/~estap) developed at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (Blacksburg, VA) in collaboration with UNR and S.R. Noble Foundation (Ardmore, OK). Initial sequence analysis reveals approximately 50% novel or unknown genes and a low redundancy of transcripts. Approximately 13% of the known genes are associated with disease, defense and stress response functions. All unique EST data generated to date have been deposited in GenBank and are freely available to the public. A unigene set has been assembled and used in the construction of an oligonucleotide microarray in collaboration with the International Grape Genomics Program (www.vitaceae.org). The scientific community will use the microarrays for global transcript analysis to elucidate gene function in plant development and responses to the environment.