Transcriptional Consequence and Impaired Gametogenesis with High-Grade Aneuploidy in Arabidopsis thaliana

Aneuploidy features a numerical chromosome variant that the number of chromosomes in the nucleus of a cell is not an exact multiple of the haploid number, which may have an impact on morphology and gene expression. Here we report a tertiary trisomy uncovered by characterizing a T-DNA insertion mutant (aur2-1/+) in the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) AURORA2 locus. Whole-genome analysis with DNA tiling arrays revealed a chromosomal translocation linked to the aur2-1 allele, which collectively accounted for a tertiary trisomy 2. Morphologic, cytogenetic and genetic analyses of aur2-1 progeny showed impaired male and female gametogenesis to various degrees and a tight association of the aur2-1 allele with the tertiary trisomy that was preferentially inherited. Transcriptome analysis showed overlapping and distinct gene expression profiles between primary and tertiary trisomy 2 plants, particularly genes involved in response to stress and various types of external and internal stimuli. Additionally, transcriptome and gene ontology analyses revealed an overrepresentation of nuclear-encoded organelle-related genes functionally involved in plastids, mitochondria and peroxisomes that were differentially expressed in at least three if not all Arabidopsis trisomics. These observations support a previous hypothesis that aneuploid cells have higher energy requirement to overcome the detrimental effects of an unbalanced genome. Moreover, our findings extend the knowledge of the complex nature of the T-DNA insertion event influencing plant genomic integrity by creating high-grade trisomy. Finally, gene expression profiling results provide useful information for future research to compare primary and tertiary trisomics for the effects of aneuploidy on plant cell physiology.