Genetic Analysis of Lignification and Secondary Wall Development in Bast Fibers of Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa)

• Author / Creator

  Koziel, Susan P.

• Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a highly productive crop that is well suited to cultivation in Canada. To better understand the development of bast (phloem) fiber secondary walls and to facilitate reverse genetics screening for improved germplasm, I undertook two sets of microarray experiments. The first compared transcript expression in stem peels at three positions along the length of the stem. The second set of microarray experiments compared transcript expression in adjacent tissue layers along the radial axis of the stem. The transcripts that were enriched in fiber-producing tissues in both studies were consistent with a dynamic program of cell wall deposition. Detailed qRT-PCR analysis of specific lignification genes identified the best targets for reverse genetics. Finally, as a first step towards establishing a virally induced gene silencing (VIGS) system, I identified viruses that produced visual symptoms of infection, although qRT-PCR failed to confirm the infection

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Lignification
  • Microarray
  • VIGS
  • Industrial Hemp
  • Secondary Wall Development
  • Virally Induced Gene Silencing
  • Bast Fiber
  • Cannabis sativa
  • Phenylpropanoid pathway

• Graduation date

  2010-06

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3R07B

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.