RNAseq analysis of Lactuca sativa leaf under UV treatment

Baby leaves of lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) are widely used to produce ready-to-eat salads all around the year. For this purpose, lettuce plants are cultivated under plastic tunnels and harvested at a very early growth stage, between 30-45 days after sowing depending on the season, cultivar and site of cultivation. Usually, the plastic film covering the cultivation tunnels transmits only a very small amount of the solar UVB radiation and partially attenuates UVA radiation. We used UV treatment post-harvest of fresh-cut lettuce baby leaves to compare the efficiency of two UV emission wavebands centred at 306 and 366 nm (achieved by employing narrow-band UV LEDs sources) to identify putative transcriptomic signatures. The analyses have been carried out supported by and in the frame of Project @CNR 2021, Title "EnhAncement of Natural anTIviral Compounds in ready- to-eat Vegetables", Acronym: ANTI-CoV to Dr. G. Agati. IDP-NAHEP, ICAR, Govt of India to A.R.B. Overall design: RNA-seq analysis and profiling of Lactuca satica L., variety "Luna bionda" and "Falstaff" baby leaves under UV treatments. Emission spectrum of the LED lamp used for the UV treatments. The visible part of the spectrum is the combination of the warm white and cold white LEDs. Irradiance was measured at a 50 cm distance from the lamp. The warm and cold white LEDs as well as the UVA (365 nm) LED emissions were set at 10% of the maximal intensity. The UVB (306 nm) LED emission was set at the 100% intensity.