Gliricidia sepium breed:GS_BR01 Transcriptome or Gene expression
Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Walp. is a medium-sized legume, originated in Central America, that belongs to the Fabaceae family. It shows rapid growth and is one of the most well-known multipurpose trees. Our research group established a methodology for the application and monitoring of salinity stress in gliricidia, through a substrate salinization protocol and a morphophysiological evaluation of the plants. By applying this methodology to five-month-old plants, we saw that this plant had two distinct responses to salt stress, depending on the amount of NaCl used. On the so-called tolerance phenotype, plants grown for 45 days on a substrate with 20 dS/m or less, did not show any visual symptoms on the aerial part (such as leaf yellowing or falling); although, they experienced a reduction in shoot and root biomass. On the so-called recovery phenotype, plants grown on a substrate with 30 dS/m or more, lost all their leaves in the first week after the stress onset. Within 48 hours all leaves withered and then started to fall. However, about two weeks after the beginning of the stress, the appearance of new leaves was observed (normal to a naked eye). As the amount of salt on the substrate gets higher (up to 50 dS/m), the time for recovery is much longer; above that level, plants did not recover. The main goal of this project is to perform a de novo transcriptome analysis of gliricidia plants under saline stress and expressing the recovery phenotype. We did that by characterizing the transcriptome profile of leaves collected from plants at two days (osmotic stress phase), and at 45 days (recovery phase) after the onset of stress.