Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Telomere length and TERT expression are associated with age in almond (Prunus dulcis [Mill.] D.A.Webb)

Katherine M. D’Amico-Willman, Elizabeth Anderson, Thomas M. Gradziel, View ORCID ProfileJonathan Fresnedo-Ramírez
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.25.294074
Katherine M. D’Amico-Willman
1Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691
2Center for Applied Plant Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Elizabeth Anderson
3The College of Wooster, Wooster, OH 44691
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Thomas M. Gradziel
4Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jonathan Fresnedo-Ramírez
1Department of Horticulture and Crop Science, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, Wooster, OH 44691
2Center for Applied Plant Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Jonathan Fresnedo-Ramírez
  • For correspondence: fresnedoramirez.1@osu.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

While it is well known that all organisms age, our understanding of how aging occurs varies dramatically among species. The aging process in perennial plants is not well defined, yet can have implications on production and yield of valuable fruit and nut crops. Almond, a relevant nut crop, exhibits an age-related disorder known as non-infectious bud failure (BF) that affects vegetative bud development, indirectly affecting kernel-yield. This species and disorder present an opportunity to address aging in a commercially-relevant and vegetatively-propagated, perennial crop threatened by an aging-related disorder. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that telomere length and/or TERT expression can serve as biomarkers of aging in almond using both whole-genome sequencing data and leaf samples collected from distinct age cohorts over a two-year period. To measure telomere lengths, we employed both in silico and molecular approaches. We also measured expression of TERT, a subunit of the enzyme telomerase, which is responsible for maintaining telomere lengths. Results from this work show a marginal but significant association between both telomere length measured by monochrome multiplex quantitative PCR and TERT expression, and age of almond seedlings. These results suggest that as almonds age, TERT expression decreases and telomeres shorten. This work provides valuable information on potential biomarkers of perennial plant aging, contributing to our limited knowledge of this process. In addition, translation of this information will provide opportunities to address BF in almond breeding and nursery propagation.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Footnotes

  • Minor typographical errors, addition of legends for supplemental files, and updated title.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted September 28, 2020.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Telomere length and TERT expression are associated with age in almond (Prunus dulcis [Mill.] D.A.Webb)
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Telomere length and TERT expression are associated with age in almond (Prunus dulcis [Mill.] D.A.Webb)
Katherine M. D’Amico-Willman, Elizabeth Anderson, Thomas M. Gradziel, Jonathan Fresnedo-Ramírez
bioRxiv 2020.09.25.294074; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.25.294074
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Telomere length and TERT expression are associated with age in almond (Prunus dulcis [Mill.] D.A.Webb)
Katherine M. D’Amico-Willman, Elizabeth Anderson, Thomas M. Gradziel, Jonathan Fresnedo-Ramírez
bioRxiv 2020.09.25.294074; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.09.25.294074

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Plant Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (3571)
  • Biochemistry (7514)
  • Bioengineering (5473)
  • Bioinformatics (20664)
  • Biophysics (10250)
  • Cancer Biology (7925)
  • Cell Biology (11563)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (6558)
  • Ecology (10129)
  • Epidemiology (2065)
  • Evolutionary Biology (13526)
  • Genetics (9493)
  • Genomics (12784)
  • Immunology (7869)
  • Microbiology (19429)
  • Molecular Biology (7609)
  • Neuroscience (41854)
  • Paleontology (306)
  • Pathology (1252)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2178)
  • Physiology (3247)
  • Plant Biology (6993)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1290)
  • Synthetic Biology (1941)
  • Systems Biology (5404)
  • Zoology (1107)