Dataset Information

Sporobolus stapfianus: Insights into desiccation tolerance in the resurrection grasses from linking transcriptomics to metabolomics.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the response of resurrection angiosperms to dehydration and rehydration is critical for deciphering the mechanisms of how plants cope with the rigors of water loss from their vegetative tissues. We have focused our studies on the C4 resurrection grass, Sporobolus stapfianus Gandoger, as a member of a group of important forage grasses.We have combined non-targeted metabolomics with transcriptomics, via a NimbleGen array platform, to develop an understanding of how gene expression and metabolite profiles can be linked to generate a more detailed mechanistic appreciation of the cellular response to both desiccation and rehydration.The rehydration transcriptome and metabolome are primarily geared towards the rapid return of photosynthesis, energy metabolism, protein turnover, and protein synthesis during the rehydration phase. However, there are some metabolites associated with ROS protection that remain elevated during rehydration, most notably the tocopherols. The analysis of the dehydration transcriptome reveals a strong concordance between transcript abundance and the associated metabolite abundance reported earlier, but only in responses that are directly related to cellular protection during dehydration: carbohydrate metabolism and redox homeostasis. The transcriptome response also provides strong support for the involvement of cellular protection processes as exemplified by the increases in the abundance of transcripts encoding late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins, anti-oxidant enzymes, early light-induced proteins (ELIP) proteins, and cell-wall modification enzymes. There is little concordance between transcript and metabolite abundance for processes such as amino acid metabolism that do not appear to contribute directly to cellular protection, but are nonetheless important for the desiccation tolerant phenotype of S. stapfianus.The transcriptomes of both dehydration and rehydration offer insight into the complexity of the regulation of responses to these processes that involve complex signaling pathways and associated transcription factors. ABA appears to be important in the control of gene expression in both the latter stages of the dehydration and the early stages of rehydration. These findings add to the growing body of information detailing how plants tolerate and survive the severe cellular perturbations of dehydration, desiccation, and rehydration.

SUBMITTER: Yobi A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5371216 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Sporobolus stapfianus: Insights into desiccation tolerance in the resurrection grasses from linking transcriptomics to metabolomics.

Yobi Abou A Schlauch Karen A KA Tillett Richard L RL Yim Won C WC Espinoza Catherine C Wone Bernard W M BW Cushman John C JC Oliver Melvin J MJ

BMC plant biology 20170328 1

<h4>Background</h4>Understanding the response of resurrection angiosperms to dehydration and rehydration is critical for deciphering the mechanisms of how plants cope with the rigors of water loss from their vegetative tissues. We have focused our studies on the C<sub>4</sub> resurrection grass, Sporobolus stapfianus Gandoger, as a member of a group of important forage grasses.<h4>Methods</h4>We have combined non-targeted metabolomics with transcriptomics, via a NimbleGen array platform, to deve ...[more]

PMID: 28351347

Similar Datasets

Project description:Sporobolus stapfianus is a desiccation tolerant (DT) grass and a member of the Poaceae family alongside prominent crop and forage species. Despite the worldwide distribution of this family, most of its species are vulnerable to water loss within their vegetative tissues. As a DT species, S. stapfianus, could, therefore, serve as a model species for identifying the molecular changes that enabled such a rare occurrence of the DT phenotype in resurrection grasses and the implications of such a unique adaptation for agriculture. A comprehensive gene expression profiling was performed in plants subjected to a dehydration/rehydration cycle using NimbleGen microarrays hybridization method. Our results showed that most transcripts were high in the hydrated state of S. stapfianus leaf tissues and that minor dehydration (> 60% relative water content; RWC) did not induce most transcripts, but did repress photosynthetic activity, which show the importance of curtailing the production of toxic elements to the DT phenotype. It took a loss of 40% RWC for induction of most transcripts. This shows that this species is pre-equipped to deal with mild dehydration, but requires stress-induced activation mechanisms to prepare for desiccation. In agreement with our transcriptomic data, a global metabolic analysis conducted in this species has shown that most metabolites accumulate to their highest levels below 45% RWC, which suggests the importance of those late stages of dehydration in preparing resurrection grasses for desiccation and for early stages of rehydration. In most cases, a 12-h rehydration was sufficient to reinstate pre-stress expression levels, which shows that only partial damage occurred during drying. Unlike during dehydration, our metabolomic data profiled after rehydration showed that there is no clear correlation between gene expression and metabolic abundance, which suggests that most of the compounds that are produced during rehydration are quickly utilized in active metabolism of restoration. The findings of the paper show that S. stapfianus is primed to respond to mild dehydration, although severe dehydration require inducible response, with 40-30% RWC being the peak of gene expression. As for photosynthesis, this species cease its photosynthetic activity even at high water levels (85% RWC) alleviating the need to activate antioxidants activity during mild dehydration.

Project description:Main conclusionProvides a first comprehensive review of integrated physiological and molecular aspects of desiccation tolerance Xerophyta viscosa. A synopsis of biotechnological studies being undertaken to improve drought tolerance in maize is given. Xerophyta viscosa (Baker) is a monocotyledonous resurrection plant from the family Vellociacea that occurs in summer-rainfall areas of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. It inhabits rocky terrain in exposed grasslands and frequently experiences periods of water deficit. Being a resurrection plant it tolerates the loss of 95% of total cellular water, regaining full metabolic competency within 3 days of rehydration. In this paper, we review some of the molecular and physiological adaptations that occur during various stages of dehydration of X. viscosa, these being functionally grouped into early and late responses, which might be relevant to the attainment of desiccation tolerance. During early drying (to 55% RWC) photosynthesis is shut down, there is increased presence and activity of housekeeping antioxidants and a redirection of metabolism to the increased formation of sucrose and raffinose family oligosaccharides. Other metabolic shifts suggest water replacement in vacuoles proposed to facilitate mechanical stabilization. Some regulatory processes observed include increased presence of a linker histone H1 variant, a Type 2C protein phosphatase, a calmodulin- and an ERD15-like protein. During the late stages of drying (to 10% RWC) there was increased expression of several proteins involved in signal transduction, and retroelements speculated to be instrumental in gene silencing. There was induction of antioxidants not typically found in desiccation-sensitive systems, classical stress-associated proteins (HSP and LEAs), proteins involved in structural stabilization and those associated with changes in various metabolite pools during drying. Metabolites accumulated in this stage are proposed, inter alia, to facilitate subcellular stabilization by vitrification process which can include glass- and ionic liquid formation.

Dataset Information

Sporobolus stapfianus: Insights into desiccation tolerance in the resurrection grasses from linking transcriptomics to metabolomics.

Publications

Sporobolus stapfianus: Insights into desiccation tolerance in the resurrection grasses from linking transcriptomics to metabolomics.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets