The 3rd International Conference on Agricultural and Biological Sciences (ABS 2017)
Dr. Xiu-Qing Li's research is a senior level research scientist on molecular genetics, genome biology, and potato genetic improvement at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) since 1997. Dr. Li was appointed as Associate Research Scientist at the “Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique” (CNRS, France), Associate Professor at Peking University, Invited Professor at Université de Paris-Sud, and Visiting Professor at Purdue University. Dr. Li is an Academic Editor of “PloS ONE”, Editor of Canadian Plant Biotechnology Newsletter, and on editorial board for “Genetics and Epigenetics” and “Potato Journal”. Dr. Li edited three books—“Studies on Artificial Seeds of Plants” (Peking University Press, 1990), “Somatic Genome Manipulation” (Springer, 2015), and “Somatic Genome Variation” (Wiley Blackwell, 2017). Dr. Li is the organizer for the “Somatic Genome Workshops” and the Co-Organizer for the “Genome Features and Chromosome Functionality Workshop” of the International Plant and Animal Genome Conferences (PAG; San Diego, USA), and the communication director of Canadian Association for Plant Biotechnology. Dr. Li is appointed as adjunct professor by various universities. Dr. Li has published over 130 peer-reviewed articles in peer-reviewed journals (Plant Cell, PNAS, and Scientific Reports…) and book chapters, and over 120 communications. Dr. Xiu-Qing Li holds a Bachelor degree in Agronomy (1982) from Shandong Agricultural University, a Master in Plant Development and Breeding (1983) from Université de Paris-Sud, and a Doctorat d’Etat in science (1987) from Université de Paris-Sud, France. Dr. Li received awards from the Education Committee of China and special praise from the Science Committee of China when he was a professor, and received the following awards for the work at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada: the Canadian Society for Horticultural Science, the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers' Association, the Potato Association of America, and the Indian Potato Association.
Speech Title: Rapid screening for potato plant tolerance to nutritional stresses and identification of associated genes using a hydroponic system
Abstract
IPotato is a very important food and vegetable crop, but its production usually requires high inputs of nitrogen, as well as phosphorous. Utilization of potato cultivars tolerant to low inputs of fertilizers, and management of the crops with appropriate amounts of fertilizers, are highly desirable. The challenge is how to determine which potato cultivars are tolerant to low inputs of nitrogen and whether a potato plant is under nitrogen deficiency. Field-based screening for nutrient use efficiency is often problematic due to variation of weather and spatial heterogeneity of soil chemical and physical properties in the research plots. Potato plants can already be stressed by nitrogen deficiency before visual symptoms appear. In this study we developed a high throughput, circulating hydroponic system and used it to investigate potato varietal differences in their growth and gene expression responses to limited nitrogen supply. Plants grown in the same channel were provided with the same treatment solution, and the concentration of the nutrient solution was maintained precisely. Potato plantlets were cultured for two weeks in a modified Hoagland’s nutrient solution, with 7.5 mM nitrate as abundant nitrogen supply and 0.05 mM nitrate as deficient nitrogen supply. The hydroponically-grown plants, including their roots, were easy quantified in this study. Resistant, intermediate, and sensitive groups of potato cultivars in terms of plant tolerance to nitrogen deficiency were identified. We will present how plant growth of 20 cultivars responded to nitrogen deficiency and describe the changes in expression of genes involved in regulating nitrogen uptake and metabolism in the cultivar Russet Burbank, in comparison between the plants under abundant or insufficient supply of nitrate. We will also discuss how to use this hydroponic system to study other nutritional stresses for potato plants. The knowledge learned from this study about cultivar differences in plant growth, gene expression, nitrogen uptake, and nitrogen assimilation can assist agronomic research, breeding, and genetic engineering to improve the nitrogen use efficiency of the potato crop.
