Analysis of drought tolerance and genetic and epigenetic variations in a somatic hybrid betweenIpomoea batatas (L.) Lam. andI. triloba L

• Published in: 农业科学学报（英文） 2017, Vol.16 (1), p.36-46
• Main Authors: JIA Li-cong, ZHAI Hong, HE Shao-zhen, YANG Yu-feng, LIU Qing-chang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2095-3119
• DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(16)61359-X

The somatic hybrid KT1 was previously obtained from protoplast fusion between sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) cv. Kokei No. 14 and its wild relativeI. triloba L. However, its genetic and epigenetic variations have not been investigated. This study showed that KT1 exhibited signiifcantly higher drought tolerance compared to the cultivated parent Kokei No. 14. The content of proline and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and photosynthesis were signiifcantly increased, while malonaldehyde (MDA) content was signiifcantly decreased compared to Kokei No. 14 under drought stress. KT1 also showed higher expression level of wel-known drought stress-responsive genes compared to Kokei No. 14 under drought stress. Ampliifed fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and methylation-sensitive ampliifed polymorphism (MSAP) analyses indicated that KT1 had AFLP and MSAP band patterns consisting of both parent speciifc bands and changed bands. Fur-ther analysis demonstrated that in KT1 the proportions of Kokei No. 14 speciifc genome components and methylation sites were much greater than those ofI. triloba. KT1 had the same chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes as Kokei No. 14. These results wil aid in developing the useful genes ofI. triloba and understanding the evolution and phylogeny of the cultivated sweetpotato.