Autor(es): Tomás, Diana Raquel dos Santos
Data: 2022
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/24598
Origem: Repositório da UTL
Projeto/bolsa: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F00239%2F2020/PT; info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/OE/SFRH%2FBD%2F93156%2F2013/PT;
Assunto(s): bread wheat; genetic diversity; heatwave; grain composition; grain transcriptomics
Doutoramento em Biologia / Instituto Superior de Agronomia. Universidade de Lisboa
Wheat is an essential crop for food and feed, due to its nutritional value and unique aptitude to produce gluten and their derived food products. It is thus essential to understand how increasingly common extreme weather events like heatwaves, defined as short periods of high temperatures (HT), affect wheat grain production and quality, and transcriptomic modulation. Thus, in order to identify wheat varieties with increased tolerance to HT, the objective of this work focused on the characterization of the already referred parameters in plants of several commercial varieties recommended to be used nowadays in Portugal and traditional varieties, submitted to high temperatures during grain filling. Using molecular markers, we showed that commercial genotypes have predicted good grain technological quality, based on the allelic composition of genes related with grain composition. Most commercial and traditional genotypes showed negative effects, induced by heatwave-like treatment, revealed by a decrease in grain number and weight, while protein content was increased. Also, through attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) analysis, we denoted the occurrence of alterations in grain polysaccharide composition induced by HT. Additionally, HT increased protein content variability in landraces and reduced it on commercial varieties. Regarding transcriptomic profiles assessed immediately after the HT treatment, traditional varieties revealed a significantly higher number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), that include genes coding for heat shock proteins and cupins, and more similar HT responses than commercial varieties. Furthermore, Bancal and landraces DEGs appear to be more associated with several metabolic pathways, while in Antequera DEGs were preferentially related with transcription modulation and RNA and protein synthesis
