The chrysanthemum (Dendranthema X grandiflorum) belongs to the family Asteraceae and it is one of the most popular flowers in the world. Viroids are the smallest known plant pathogens. They consist of a circular, single-stranded RNA, which does not encode a protein. Chrysanthemums are a common host for two different viroids, the Chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd) and the Chrysanthemum chlorotic mottle viroid (CChMVd). These viroids are quite different from each other in structure and function. Here, we reviewed research associated with CSVd and CChMVd that covered disease symptoms, identification, host range, nucleotide sequences, phylogenetic relationships, structures, replication mechanisms, symptom determinants, detection methods, viroid elimination, and development of viroid resistant chrysanthemums, among other studies. We propose that the chrysanthemum and these two viroids represent convenient genetic resources for host–viroid interaction studies.

The purpose of this study was to assess the genetic variation and establish the relationship amongst breeds and strains using 15 chicken specific microsatellite markers. A total of 285 unrelated DNA samples from four Korean native chicken strains (Black strain of Korean native chicken; KL, Red Brown strain of Korean native chicken; KR, Ogol strain of Korean native chicken; KS and Yellow Brown strain of Korean native chicken; KY) and three introduced chicken breeds (F strain of White Leghorn; LF, K strain of White Leghorn; LK, Rhode Island Red; RC and Cornish; CN) were genotyped to estimate within and between breed genetic diversity indices. All the loci analyzed in 15 microsatellite markers showed a polymorphic pattern and the number of alleles ranged from 5 to 14. The polymorphism information content (PIC) of UMA1019 was the highest (0.872) and that of ADL0234 was the lowest (0.562). The expected total heterozygosity (He) within breed and mean number of observed alleles ranged from 0.540 (LF) to 0.689 (KY), and from 3.47 (LK) to 6.07 (KR), respectively. The genetic variation of KR and KY were the highest and the lowest within Korean native strains, respectively. The genetic distance results showed that Korean native chicken strains were separated with the three introduced chicken breeds clustered into another group. The lowest distance (0.149) was observed between the KR and KL breeds and the highest distance (0.855) between the KR and LK breeds. The microsatellite polymorphism data were shown to be useful for assessing the genetic relationship between Korean native strains and other foreign breeds.

The chrysanthemum is one of popular flowers in the world and a host for several viruses. So far, molecular interaction studies between the chrysanthemum and viruses are limited. In this study, we carried out a transcriptome analysis of chrysanthemum in response to three different viruses including Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and Potato virus X (PVX). A chrysanthemum 135K microarray derived from expressed sequence tags was successfully applied for the expression profiles of the chrysanthemum at early stage of virus infection. Finally, we identified a total of 125, 70 and 124 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for CMV, TSWV and PVX, respectively. Many DEGs were virus specific; however, 33 DEGs were commonly regulated by three viruses. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis identified a total of 132 GO terms, and of them, six GO terms related stress response and MCM complex were commonly identified for three viruses. Several genes functioning in stress response such as chitin response and ethylene mediated signaling pathway were up-regulated indicating their involvement in establishment of host immune system. In particular, TSWV infection significantly down-regulated genes related to DNA metabolic process including DNA replication, chromatin organization, histone modification and cytokinesis, and they are mostly targeted to nucleosome and MCM complex. Taken together, our comparative transcriptome analysis revealed several genes related to hormone mediated viral stress response and DNA modification. The identified chrysanthemums genes could be good candidates for further functional study associated with resistant to various plant viruses.

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