Transcriptome profiling of runner formation induced by exogenous gibberellin in Fragaria vesca

To acquire more findings on the molecular mechanism of exogenous gibberellin on the growth and living process of strawberry and look into such a mechanism’s impacts, the seedlings of Fragaria vesca accession ‘Ruegen’, a non-runner genotype, were sprayed with different concentrations (0−100 mg/L) exogenous gibberellin (GA3). When the concentration of GA3 reached 50 mg/L, the seedlings produced runners. Illumina HiSeq high-throughput sequencing was performed on the stem apices of strawberry seedlings treated with GA3 (100 mg/L) and the control, and then, the transcriptomes were compared. RNA-Seq data revealed that many genes related to the synthesis and metabolism of plant hormones and signal transduction showed significant up-regulated or down-regulated expressions in the stem apices treated with GA3, and the altered expression levels were verified by the quantitative RT-PCR testing approach. Regarding these, this study hereby highlights a crucial insight into the mechanism of gibberellin, and its embedded regulation mechanism pertaining to strawberry-runner formation.