Coupling Gene to Function in Strawberry

Strawberry (Fragaria spp.) is a small herbaceous plant closely related to other high value rosaceous crops, such as apple, peach, rose and raspberry. Strawberry is an excellent model for functional gene analysis.  Candidate gene function may be assessed in transgenic plants, but also by relaible fruit agroinfiltration assays that allow rapid display of function via transient expression.  We have used RNAseq analysis coupled to computational clustering strategies to analyze common transcript assocaited wtih specific flavors or pigments.  Our strategies have revealed small numbers of candidates that could be tested with the transient or transgenic analyses.  These complementary approaches allow us to couple genetics, genomics and analytical chemistry to find new candidate genes.  Transcription correlation network analysis has proven valuable in identifying new transcripts contributing to known pathways that may not easily be found with forward or reverse-genetic screens. Our findings show how high-qualilty functional genomics tools rapidly assess the relationship between specific plant traits and candidate transcripts.