Analysis of drought tolerance and genetic and epigenetic variations in a somatic hybrid between Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. and I. triloba L.

The somatic hybrid KT1 was previously obtained from protoplast fusion between sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) cv. Kokei No. 14 and its wild relative I. triloba L. However, its genetic and epigenetic variations have not been investigated. This study showed that KT1 exhibited significantly higher drought tolerance compared to the cultivated parent Kokei No. 14. The content of proline and activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and photosynthesis were significantly increased, while malonaldehyde (MDA) content was significantly decreased compared to Kokei No. 14 under drought stress. KT1 also showed higher expression level of well-known drought stress-responsive genes compared to Kokei No. 14 under drought stress. Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) analyses indicated that KT1 had AFLP and MSAP band patterns consisting of both parent specific bands and changed bands. Further analysis demonstrated that in KT1 the proportions of Kokei No. 14 specific genome components and methylation sites were much greater than those of I. triloba. KT1 had the same chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes as Kokei No. 14. These results will aid in developing the useful genes of I. triloba and understanding the evolution and phylogeny of the cultivated sweetpotato.