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Bio-detoxification of ricin in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) seeds.

ABSTRACT: Ricin is a highly toxic ribosome-inactivating lectin occurring in the seeds of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.). Castor bean grows throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions and is a very important crop due to its high seed content of ricinoleic acid, an unusual fatty acid, which has several industrial applications. However, due to the presence of the toxin, castor bean can cause death after the exposure of animals to low doses of ricin through skin contact, injection, inhalation or oral routes. Aiming to generate a detoxified genotype, we explored the RNAi concept in order to silence the ricin coding genes in the endosperm of castor bean seeds. Results indicated that ricin genes were effectively silenced in genetically modified (GM) plants, and ricin proteins were not detected by ELISA. Hemagglutination activity was not observed with proteins isolated from GM seeds. In addition, we demonstrated that seed proteins from GM plants were not toxic to rat intestine epithelial cells or to Swiss Webster mice. After oil extraction, bio-detoxified castor bean cake, which is very rich in valuable proteins, can be used for animal feeding. Gene silencing would make castor bean cultivation safer for farmers, industrial workers and society.

SUBMITTER: Sousa NL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5684206 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bio-detoxification of ricin in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) seeds.

Sousa Natália L NL Cabral Glaucia B GB Vieira Pabline M PM Baldoni Aisy B AB Aragão Francisco J L FJL

Scientific reports 20171113 1

Ricin is a highly toxic ribosome-inactivating lectin occurring in the seeds of castor bean (Ricinus communis L.). Castor bean grows throughout tropical and sub-tropical regions and is a very important crop due to its high seed content of ricinoleic acid, an unusual fatty acid, which has several industrial applications. However, due to the presence of the toxin, castor bean can cause death after the exposure of animals to low doses of ricin through skin contact, injection, inhalation or oral rout ...[more]

PMID: 29133924

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Project description:BackgroundThe potential biodiesel plant castor bean (Ricinus communis) has been in the limelight for bioenergy research due to the availability of its genome which raises the bar for genome-wide studies claiming advances that impact the "genome-phenome challenge". Here we report the application of phytohormone ABA as an exogenous factor for the improvement of storage reserve accumulation with a focus on the complex interaction of pathways associated with seed filling.ResultsAfter the application of exogenous ABA treatments, we measured an increased ABA levels in the developing seeds cultured in vitro using the ELISA technique and quantified the content of major biomolecules (including total lipids, sugars and protein) in treated seeds. Exogenous ABA (10 μM) enhanced the accumulation of soluble sugar content (6.3%) followed by deposition of total lipid content (4.9 %). To elucidate the possible ABA signal transduction pathways towards overall seed filling, we studied the differential gene expression analysis using Illumina RNA-Sequencing technology, resulting in 2568 (1507-up/1061-down regulated) differentially expressed genes were identified. These genes were involved in sugar metabolism (such as glucose-6-phosphate, fructose 1,6 bis-phosphate, glycerol-3-phosphate, pyruvate kinase), lipid biosynthesis (such as ACS, ACBP, GPAT2, GPAT3, FAD2, FAD3, SAD1 and DGAT1), storage proteins synthesis (such as SGP1, zinc finger protein, RING H2 protein, nodulin 55 and cytochrome P450), and ABA biosynthesis (such as NCED1, NCED3 and beta carotene). Further, we confirmed the validation of RNA-Sequencing data by Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis.ConclusionsTaken together, metabolite measurements supported by genes and pathway expression results indicated in this study provide new insights to understand the ABA signaling mechanism towards seed storage filling and also contribute useful information for facilitating oilseed crop functional genomics on an aim for utilizing castor bean agricultural and bioenergy use.

Project description:BackgroundMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenously encoded small RNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression and play essential roles in numerous developmental and physiological processes. Currently, little information on the transcriptome and tissue-specific expression of miRNAs is available in the model non-edible oilseed crop castor bean (Ricinus communis L.), one of the most important non-edible oilseed crops cultivated worldwide. Recent advances in sequencing technologies have allowed the identification of conserved and novel miRNAs in many plant species. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing technologies to identify and characterize the miRNAs in castor bean.ResultsFive small RNA libraries were constructed for deep sequencing from root tips, leaves, developing seeds (at the initial stage, seed1; and at the fast oil accumulation stage, seed2) and endosperms in castor bean. High-throughput sequencing generated a large number of sequence reads of small RNAs in this study. In total, 86 conserved miRNAs were identified, including 63 known and 23 newly identified. Sixteen miRNA isoform variants in length were found from the conserved miRNAs of castor bean. MiRNAs displayed diverse organ-specific expression levels among five libraries. Combined with criteria for miRNA annotation and a RT-PCR approach, 72 novel miRNAs and their potential precursors were annotated and 20 miRNAs newly identified were validated. In addition, new target candidates for miRNAs newly identified in this study were proposed.ConclusionsThe current study presents the first high-throughput small RNA sequencing study performed in castor bean to identify its miRNA population. It characterizes and increases the number of miRNAs and their isoforms identified in castor bean. The miRNA expression analysis provides a foundation for understanding castor bean miRNA organ-specific expression patterns. The present study offers an expanded picture of miRNAs for castor bean and other members in the family Euphorbiaceae.

Project description:H1s, or linker histones, are ubiquitous proteins in eukaryotic cells, consisting of a globular GH1 domain flanked by two unstructured tails. Whilst it is known that numerous non-allelic variants exist within the same species, the degree of interspecific and intraspecific variation and divergence of linker histones remain unknown. The conserved basic binding sites in GH1 and evenly distributed strong positive charges on the C-terminal domain (CTD) are key structural characters for linker histones to bind chromatin. Based on these features, we identified five linker histones from 13 GH1-containing proteins in castor bean (Ricinus communis), which were named as RcH1.1, RcH1.2a, RcH1.2b, RcH1.3, and RcH1.4 based on their phylogenetic relationships with the H1s from five other economically important Euphorbiaceae species (Hevea brasiliensis Jatropha curcas, Manihot esculenta Mercurialis annua, and Vernicia fordii) and Arabidopsis thaliana. The expression profiles of RcH1 genes in a variety of tissues and stresses were determined from RNA-seq data. We found three RcH1 genes (RcH1.1, RcH1.2a, and RcH1.3) were broadly expressed in all tissues, suggesting a conserved role in stabilizing and organizing the nuclear DNA. RcH1.2a and RcH1.4 was preferentially expressed in floral tissues, indicating potential involvement in floral development in castor bean. Lack of non-coding region and no expression detected in any tissue tested suggest that RcH1.2b is a pseudogene. RcH1.3 was salt stress inducible, but not induced by cold, heat and drought in our investigation. Structural comparison confirmed that GH1 domain was highly evolutionarily conserved and revealed that N- and C-terminal domains of linker histones are divergent between variants, but highly conserved between species for a given variant. Although the number of H1 genes varies between species, the number of H1 variants is relatively conserved in more closely related species (such as within the same family). Through comparison of nucleotide diversity of linker histone genes and oil-related genes, we found similar mutation rate of these two groups of genes. Using Tajima's D and ML-HKA tests, we found RcH1.1 and RcH1.3 may be under balancing selection.

Dataset Information

Bio-detoxification of ricin in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) seeds.

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Bio-detoxification of ricin in castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) seeds.

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