Dataset Information

STATAWAARS: a promoter motif associated with spatial expression in the major effector-producing tissues of the plant-parasitic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Plant-parasitic nematodes cause severe damage to a wide range of crop and forest species worldwide. The migratory endoparasitic nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, (pinewood nematode) is a quarantine pathogen that infects pine trees and has a hugely detrimental economic impact on the forestry industry. Under certain environmental conditions large areas of infected trees can be destroyed, leading to damage on an ecological scale. The interactions of B. xylophilus with plants are mediated by secreted effector proteins produced in the pharyngeal gland cells. Identification of effectors is important to understand mechanisms of parasitism and to develop new control measures for the pathogens. RESULTS:Using an approach pioneered in cyst nematodes, we have analysed the promoter regions of a small panel of previously validated pharyngeal gland cell effectors from B. xylophilus to identify an associated putative regulatory promoter motif: STATAWAARS. The presence of STATAWAARS in the promoter region of an uncharacterized gene is a predictor that the corresponding gene encodes a putatively secreted protein, consistent with effector function. Furthermore, we are able to experimentally validate that a subset of STATAWAARS-containing genes are specifically expressed in the pharyngeal glands. Finally, we independently validate the association of STATAWAARS with tissue-specific expression by directly sequencing the mRNA of pharyngeal gland cells. We combine a series of criteria, including STATAWAARS predictions and abundance in the gland cell transcriptome, to generate a comprehensive effector repertoire for B. xylophilus. The genes highlighted by this approach include many previously described effectors and a series of novel "pioneer" effectors. CONCLUSIONS:We provide a major scientific advance in the area of effector regulation. We identify a novel promoter motif (STATAWAARS) associated with expression in the pharyngeal gland cells. Our data, coupled with those from previous studies, suggest that lineage-specific promoter motifs are a theme of effector regulation in the phylum Nematoda.

SUBMITTER: Espada M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6062891 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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STATAWAARS: a promoter motif associated with spatial expression in the major effector-producing tissues of the plant-parasitic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.

Espada Margarida M Eves-van den Akker Sebastian S Maier Tom T Vijayapalani Paramasivan P Baum Thomas T Mota Manuel M Jones John T JT

BMC genomics 20180727 1

<h4>Background</h4>Plant-parasitic nematodes cause severe damage to a wide range of crop and forest species worldwide. The migratory endoparasitic nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, (pinewood nematode) is a quarantine pathogen that infects pine trees and has a hugely detrimental economic impact on the forestry industry. Under certain environmental conditions large areas of infected trees can be destroyed, leading to damage on an ecological scale. The interactions of B. xylophilus with plants ...[more]

PMID: 30053797

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Project description:BackgroundThe pine wood nematode (PWN; Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) is the most damaging biological pest in pine forest ecosystems in China. However, the pathogenic mechanism remains unclear. Tracheid cavitation induced by excess metabolism of volatile terpenes is a typical characteristic of pine trees infected by B. xylophilus. β-pinene, one of the main volatile terpenes, influences PWN colonization and reproduction, stimulating pathogenicity during the early stages of infection. To elucidate the response mechanism of PWN to β-pinene, pathogenesis, mortality, and reproduction rate were investigated under different concentrations of β-pinene using a transcriptomics approach.ResultsA low concentration of β-pinene (BL, C < 25.74 mg/ml) inhibited PWN reproduction, whereas a high concentration (BH, C > 128.7 mg/ml) promoted reproduction. Comparison of PWN expression profiles under low (BL, 21.66 mg/ml) and high (BH, 214.5 mg/ml) β-pinene concentrations at 48 h identified 659 and 418 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), respectively, compared with controls. Some key DEGs are potential regulators of β-pinene via detoxification metabolism (cytochrome P450, UDP-glucuronosyltransferases and short-chain dehydrogenases), ion channel/transporter activity (unc and ATP-binding cassette families), and nuclear receptor -related genes. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of DEGs revealed metabolic processes as the most significant biological processes, and catalytic activity as the most significant molecular function for both BL and BH samples. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) Orthology (KO) analysis showed that xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, and transport and catabolism were the dominant terms in metabolism categories.ConclusionIn addition to detoxification via reduction/oxidation (redox) activity, PWN responds to β-pinene through amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, and other pathways including growth regulation and epidermal protein changes to overcome β-pinene stress. This study lays a foundation for further exploring the pathogenic mechanism of PWN.

Project description:Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a worldwide threat to pine forests, and is caused by the pine wood nematode (PWN) Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Bacteria are known to be associated with PWN and may have an important role in PWD. Serratia sp. LCN16 is a PWN-associated bacterium, highly resistant to oxidative stress in vitro, and which beneficially contributes to the PWN survival under these conditions. Oxidative stress is generated as a part of the basal defense mechanism used by plants to combat pathogenic invasion. Here, we studied the biology of Serratia sp. LCN16 through genome analyses, and further investigated, using reverse genetics, the role of two genes directly involved in the neutralization of H2O2, namely the H2O2 transcriptional factor oxyR; and the H2O2-targeting enzyme, catalase katA.Serratia sp. LCN16 is phylogenetically most closely related to the phytosphere group of Serratia, which includes S. proteamaculans, S. grimessi and S. liquefaciens. Likewise, Serratia sp. LCN16 shares many features with endophytes (plant-associated bacteria), such as genes coding for plant polymer degrading enzymes, iron uptake/transport, siderophore and phytohormone synthesis, aromatic compound degradation and detoxification enzymes. OxyR and KatA are directly involved in the high tolerance to H2O2 of Serratia sp. LCN16. Under oxidative stress, Serratia sp. LCN16 expresses katA independently of OxyR in contrast with katG which is under positive regulation of OxyR. Serratia sp. LCN16 mutants for oxyR (oxyR::int(614)) and katA (katA::int(808)) were sensitive to H2O2 in relation with wild-type, and both failed to protect the PWN from H2O2-stress exposure. Moreover, both mutants showed different phenotypes in terms of biofilm production and swimming/swarming behaviors.This study provides new insights into the biology of PWN-associated bacteria Serratia sp. LCN16 and its extreme resistance to oxidative stress conditions, encouraging further research on the potential role of this bacterium in interaction with PWN in planta environment.

Project description:BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are considered to be very important in regulating the growth, development, behavior and stress response in animals and plants in post-transcriptional gene regulation. Pinewood nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, is an important invasive plant parasitic nematode in Asia. To have a comprehensive knowledge about miRNAs of the nematode is necessary for further in-depth study on roles of miRNAs in the ecological adaptation of the invasive species. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Five small RNA libraries were constructed and sequenced by Illumina/Solexa deep-sequencing technology. A total of 810 miRNA candidates (49 conserved and 761 novel) were predicted by a computational pipeline, of which 57 miRNAs (20 conserved and 37 novel) encoded by 53 miRNA precursors were identified by experimental methods. Ten novel miRNAs were considered to be species-specific miRNAs of B. xylophilus. Comparison of expression profiles of miRNAs in the five small RNA libraries showed that many miRNAs exhibited obviously different expression levels in the third-stage dispersal juvenile and at a cold-stressed status. Most of the miRNAs exhibited obviously down-regulated expression in the dispersal stage. But differences among the three geographic libraries were not prominent. A total of 979 genes were predicted to be targets of these authentic miRNAs. Among them, seven heat shock protein genes were targeted by 14 miRNAs, and six FMRFamide-like neuropeptides genes were targeted by 17 miRNAs. A real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify the mRNA expression levels of target genes. CONCLUSIONS: Basing on the fact that a negative correlation existed between the expression profiles of miRNAs and the mRNA expression profiles of their target genes (hsp, flp) by comparing those of the nematodes at a cold stressed status and a normal status, we suggested that miRNAs might participate in ecological adaptation and behavior regulation of the nematode. This is the first description of miRNAs in plant parasitic nematodes. The results provide a useful resource for further in-depth study on molecular regulation and evolution of miRNAs in plant parasitic nematodes.

Dataset Information

STATAWAARS: a promoter motif associated with spatial expression in the major effector-producing tissues of the plant-parasitic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.

Publications

STATAWAARS: a promoter motif associated with spatial expression in the major effector-producing tissues of the plant-parasitic nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus.

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