Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 27;23(3):1480.
doi: 10.3390/ijms23031480.

Regulation of the Bud Dormancy Development and Release in Micropropagated Rhubarb 'Malinowy'

Agnieszka Wojtania  1 , Monika Markiewicz  1 , Piotr Waligórski  2
Affiliations

Regulation of the Bud Dormancy Development and Release in Micropropagated Rhubarb 'Malinowy'

Agnieszka Wojtania et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Culinary rhubarb is a vegetable crop, valued for its stalks, very rich in different natural bioactive ingredients. In commercial rhubarb stalk production, the bud dormancy development and release are crucial processes that determine the yields and quality of stalks. To date, reports on rhubarb bud dormancy regulation, however, are lacking. It is known that dormancy status depends on cultivars. The study aimed to determine the dormancy regulation in a valuable selection of rhubarb 'Malinowy'. Changes in carbohydrate, total phenolic, endogenous hormone levels, and gene expression levels during dormancy development and release were studied in micropropagated rhubarb plantlets. Dormancy developed at high temperature (25.5 °C), and long day. Leaf senescence and dying were consistent with a significant increase in starch, total phenolics, ABA, IAA and SA levels. Five weeks of cooling at 4 °C were sufficient to break dormancy, but rhizomes stored for a longer duration showed faster and more uniformity leaf growing, and higher stalk length. No growth response was observed for non-cooled rhizomes. The low temperature activated carbohydrate and hormone metabolism and signalling in the buds. The increased expression of AMY3, BMY3, SUS3, BGLU17, GAMYB genes were consistent with a decrease in starch and increase in soluble sugars levels during dormancy release. Moreover, some genes (ZEP, ABF2, GASA4, GA2OX8) related to ABA and GA metabolism and signal transduction were activated. The relationship between auxin (IAA, IBA, 5-Cl-IAA), and phenolic, including SA levels and dormancy status was also observed.

Keywords: endogenous hormone; gene expression; phenolics; soluble sugars; starch; temperature.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Annual growth cycle of rhubarb ‘Malinowy’ in the field; (A) 1 April, (B) 23 April, (C) 15 May, (D) 10 October.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Temperature change during rhubarb growth in the greenhouse.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Plantlets of rhubarb ‘Malinowy’ propagated in vitro after different growth periods (A—1 month, B—2 months, C—3 months, D—4 months) in the greenhouse.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Variation in the content of soluble sugars (A), starch (B), and total phenolics (C) in the rhubarb buds during four months of growth in the greenhouse after in vitro conditions. Means indicated with the same letter within each growth parameter do not differ significantly (p = 0.05) according to Duncan’s test.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Variation in the content of ABA (A), auxins (B); IAA—indole-3-acetic acid, IBA—indole-3-butyric acid, 5-Cl-IAA—5-chloroindole-3-acetic acid, and salicylic acid (C) in the rhubarb buds during four months of the growth in the greenhouse after in vitro conditions. Means indicated with the same letter within each phytohormone and auxin type do not differ significantly (p = 0.05) according to Duncan’s test.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of chilling duration (0, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 weeks) at 4 °C on a break of dormancy of rhubarb buds (A). The sprouting percentage was determined after two, three, and four weeks of growing at 17 °C following cold treatment. The green dashed line suggests the time of bud transition from endo- to ecodormancy. Leaf length and leaf number were determined after four weeks of cold treatment (B,C). Means indicated with the same letter within each growth parameter do not differ significantly (p = 0.05) according to Duncan’s test.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Variation in soluble sugars (A), starch (B), and total phenolic contents (C) in rhubarb buds during storage at 4 °C after different durations (0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 weeks). Means indicated with the same letter within each growth parameter do not differ significantly (p = 0.05) according to Duncan’s test.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Variation in the content of ABA (A), auxins (B); IAA—indole-3-acetic acid, IBA—indole-3-butyric acid, 5-Cl-IAA—5-chloroindole-3-acetic acid, and salicylic acid (C) in rhubarb buds during storage at 4 °C after different durations (0, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 weeks). Means indicated with the same letter within each phytohormone and auxin type do not differ significantly (p = 0.05) according to Duncan’s test.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The relative expression of the genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism (A–E) and flavonoids (F) in rhubarb ‘Malinowy’ plants during cold treatment.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The relative expression of the genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism (A–E) and flavonoids (F) in rhubarb ‘Malinowy’ plants during cold treatment.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The relative expression of the genes involved in plant hormone metabolism, ABA (A–C) and GA (D–F) in rhubarb ‘Malinowy’ plants during cold treatment.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The relative expression of the genes involved in plant hormone metabolism, ABA (A–C) and GA (D–F) in rhubarb ‘Malinowy’ plants during cold treatment.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Heat map representation of relative dormancy-related genes expression. Samples are represented in columns, whereas genes are shown in rows. The differences in expression level are shown in distinct colors. Red indicates high relative gene expression and green indicates low relative gene expression.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Anderson J.V., Chao W.S., Horvath D.P. A current review on the regulation of dormancy in vegetative buds. Weed Sci. 2001;49:571–589. doi: 10.1614/0043-1745(2001)049[0581:RCROTR]2.0.CO;2. - DOI
    1. Chao W.S., Foley M.E., Horvath D.P., Anderson J.V. Signalling regulating dormancy in vegetative buds. Int. J. Plant Dev. Biol. 2007;1:49–56.
    1. Podwyszyńska M. The mechanisms of in vitro storage organ formation in ornamental geophytes. Floricult. Ornam. Biotechnol. 2012;6:9–23.
    1. Shim D., Ko J.H., Kim W.C., Wang Q., Keatthley D.E., Han K.H. A molecular framework for seasonal growth-dormancy regulation in perennial plants. Hortic. Res. 2014;1:14059. doi: 10.1038/hortres.2014.59. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lang G.A., Early J.D., Martin G.C., Darnell R.L. Endo-, para-, and ecodormancy: Physiological terminology and classification for dormancy research. HortScience. 1987;22:371–377.

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources