Changes in Transposable Element Fingerprint Profiles of Seladon Wheat Cultivar Under the Micronutrient Malnutrition

Abstract

Retrotransposons are natural parts of plant genomes. Under normal growth conditions most retrotransposons are transcriptionally silent or minimally expressed. However, certain stress conditions can lead to reactivation of retrotransposons at the level of transcription  or transposition.  Many monocot retrotransposons are transcriptionally active under abiotic stress conditions. In wheat, different abiotic stress was reported to be stimuli for retrotransposon activation. Here, IRAP fingerprints of Bare-1 retrotransposon and Cassandra TRIM element were anylysed analyzed in the drought susceptible Triticum aestivum L. cultivar Aladin under the stress of malnutrition. Wheat plants were grown under aseptic culture medium conditions  with reduced macronutrients and no micronutrients  and the IRAP (Inter Retrotransposon Amplified Polymorphism) technique was subsequently applied to obtain retrotransposons specific fingerprints. Both of the analysed retrotransposon showed polymorphic profiles. A total of 86 amplicons were generated in Bare-1 IRAP and 95 amplicons in Cassandra IRAP. Three unique fragments were obtained in control plants and two in the variant of 21 days of malnutrition for Bare-1 IRAP fingerprints. One unique fragment was obtained in control plants, two in the variant of 7 days of malnutrition, two in the variant of 14 days of malnutrition and five in the variant of 21 days of malnutrition for the Cassandra retrotransposon. IRAP fingerprints of Bare-1 and Cassandra retrotransposons are here reported for the first time under ther stress of malnutrition. In both of them, changes in generated amplicons were obtained what point the activity of analysed retrotransposons.