Crops face increased risk from heat stress due to climate change. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers grown in hot summers often have defects including pre-harvest sprouting (“heat sprouts”). We have used 18 potato cultivars to investigate whether heat stress (HS) conditions alone could cause heat sprouting and dormancy changes in tubers. We also examined transcriptomic responses of potato to HS and whether these responses are like those induced by postharvest sprouting. We demonstrated that HS alone caused heat sprouts and shortened postharvest dormancy period, heat-sprouted tubers became dormant after harvest, and cultivars varied substantially for producing heat spouts but there was no clear association with cultivar maturity earliness. Cultivar Innovator did not show any heat sprouts and still had long dormancy. Dormancy-associated genes (DOG1 and SLP) were downregulated in HS tubers like in postharvest sprouting tubers. We have identified 1201 differentially expressed genes, 14 enriched GO terms and 12 enriched KEGG pathways in response to HS in growing tubers of ‘Russet Burbank’. Transcriptomic response of ‘Russet Burbank’ to HS showed significant similarities to that of postharvest non-HS sprouted tubers. Gibberellin biosynthesis pathway was enriched in heat-stressed tubers and was likely involved in heat sprouting and dormancy release. Heat sprouting and postharvest sprouting shared common candidate genes and had significant similarity in gene expression. Our study has significance for selecting potato cultivars for farming, planning storage and utilization of heat-stressed tubers, identifying sprouting-related genes, understanding heat-stress biology, and breeding heat-tolerant potato cultivars, especially for sustainable potato production under climate change.

中文翻译：

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生长马铃薯块茎中热应激诱导的发芽和差异基因表达：与采后发芽诱导的比较转录组学

由于气候变化，作物面临的热应激风险增加。土豆 （马铃薯L.) 在炎热夏季生长的块茎通常存在缺陷，包括收获前发芽（“热芽”）。我们使用了 18 个马铃薯品种来研究仅热应激 (HS) 条件是否会导致块茎热发芽和休眠变化。我们还检查了马铃薯对 HS 的转录组学反应，以及这些反应是否类似于采后发芽诱导的反应。我们证明单独的 HS 会引起热芽和缩短采后休眠期，热芽块茎在收获后进入休眠状态，并且品种在产生热喷方面差异很大，但与品种成熟提前没有明显关联。Cultivar Innovator 没有显示任何热芽，并且仍然处于长期休眠状态。休眠相关基因 (狗1和SLP) 在 HS 块茎中被下调，就像在采后发芽块茎中一样。我们已经确定了 1201 个差异表达基因、14 个富集的 GO 术语和 12 个富集的 KEGG 途径，以响应 'Russet Burbank' 生长块茎中的 HS。'Russet Burbank' 对 HS 的转录组学反应与采后非 HS 发芽块茎的转录组学反应显示出显着的相似性。赤霉素生物合成途径在热应激块茎中富集，可能参与热发芽和休眠释放。热发芽和采后发芽具有共同的候选基因，并且在基因表达上具有显着的相似性。本研究对马铃薯栽培品种选择、热胁迫块茎贮藏利用规划、发芽相关基因鉴定、了解热胁迫生物学、