Project description:The investigation contains two sets of experiment. Set I. Transcriptional profiling of salt treated WT A. thaliana (WS ecotype) (100mM NaCl WT/0mM NaCl WT): Set II. Transcriptional profiling of salt treated ABR17- A. thaliana lines (100mM NaCl ABR17/0mM NaCl ABR17). Tissue for microarray analysis was obtained by placing surface sterilized seeds of A. thaliana (line 6.9) and the WT on half strength Murashige & Skoog (MS)(Murashige and Skoog, 1962) medium (1.5% sucrose, 0.8% agar with pH 5.7) medium in Petri dishes with or without 100mM NaCl at RT (21 ± 2 °C) after surface sterilization. The seeds were surface sterilized by rinsing with 70% ethanol for one minute, incubation in 20% bleach for 15 min and subsequent washes (four times for 5min each) to remove the bleach. MS plates with the seeds were placed at RT (21 ± 2 °C) under continuous fluorescent light 30 ?mol m-2 s-1 for 14 days. Seedlings (14 day-old) from three independently grown biological replicates in two set of experiments were removed from the MS plates, flash frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at 80 °C until used for RNA extraction. Technical protocols for preparing the hybridization extract: 1. RNA was isolated using the QIAGEN RNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen Inc., Mississauga, ON, Canada) from two-week-old WT (grown on 0 and 100mMNaCl) and ABR17 (grown on 0 and 100mMNaCl) seedling tissue grown at three independent times (biological replicates). The integrity of all RNA samples assessed by agarose gel (1.2 percent) electrophoresis. 2. 6 ?g (Six micrograms) of total RNA was used to synthesize cDNAs using SuperScript® II RT (Invitrogen Inc., Burlington, ON, Canada) with RT polyA-capture primers in 3D Array 900TM (Genisphere Inc., Hatfield, PA, USA). Each pair of treated (100mM NaCl) and untreated (0mM NaCl) samples within each of the three biological replicates from two sets of experiments (100mM NaCl WT/0mM NaCl WT ; 100mM NaCl ABR17/0mM NaCl ABR17) was labelled in a reciprocal dye-swap design, for a total of 12 hybridizations. Note: In the transgenic plant production, the pea cDNA encoding for ABR17 was constitutively expressed under the control of Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Reference: Srivastava S., Rahman H., Shah S. and Kav N.N.V. Constitutive expression of pea ABA-responsive 17 (ABR17) cDNA confers multiple stress tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Biotechnology Journal (2006) 4, 529-549.

Project description:Transcriptional variation, also called expression level polymorphism (ELP), contributes to intra-specific phenotypic variation in many organisms. Differentially expressed transcripts are typically enriched for stress-related genes, suggesting that differences in response to the environment are a particularly common point of divergence among gentoypes. Analysis of ELPs also has been suggested as a way to assess unintended consequences of transgene introduction; however, it is important that interpretation of transcriptional changes be performed within the context of potential fitness effects. In these studies we sought to examine differential gene expression in response to salinity for two widely used Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes, Wassilewskija (Ws) and Columbia (Col), and a single gene mutation (glabrous, gl1-1) in the Col background (Col(gl)), in relation to genetic, phenotypic, and fitness differences. Growth analyses were performed with seedlings germinated on culture media and growth chamber-grown plants carried through the full life cycle. Transcriptome analyses were performed with salt treated and control growth-chamber grown plants six days post initiation of salt stress. Ws plants had the least salt injury and highest dry matter accumulation and seed production in salt stressed conditions. ELPs among genoytypes and in response to 100 mM NaCl were enriched for genes associated with response to stress, including stress-associated transcription factors, heat shock and redox metabolism genes, and R genes. Application of salt resulted in many more transcripts up- or down-regulated in Col and Ws than in Col(gl). Many of the transcripts influenced by salt in Col were already altered in gl1-1 plants in the absence of salt, although Col(gl) plants did not show any detectable signs of stress, or effects on fecundity in the absence of salt treatment. The majority of salt-induced transcriptional changes that occurred in Ws also occurred in Col, suggesting common salt stress responses in these two ecotypes. Many more genes were affected by salt in Col than Ws, however, possibly reflecting the greater salt injury observed for Col. There was minimal overlap between the transcripts that differed for Ws and Col prior to salt treatment and those that were subsequently affected by salt stress. Thus, many genes conferring comparative salt stress tolerance in Ws likely differ from those whose expression levels are modified in response to salt stress. These studies demonstrate transcriptional variation among Arabidopsis genotypes in response to salt stress. Greater transcriptome differences did not necessarily correspond with greater genetic difference or phenotypic differences in morphology, fecundity, and resistance to salt stress. These results suggest that depending on circumstance, transcriptional changes can reflect response to injury, facilitate adaptive expression of fitness-associated traits, or allow for phenotypic buffering to minimize the impact of genetic changes.

Project description:Transcriptional variation, also called expression level polymorphism (ELP), contributes to intra-specific phenotypic variation in many organisms. Differentially expressed transcripts are typically enriched for stress-related genes, suggesting that differences in response to the environment are a particularly common point of divergence among gentoypes. Analysis of ELPs also has been suggested as a way to assess unintended consequences of transgene introduction; however, it is important that interpretation of transcriptional changes be performed within the context of potential fitness effects. In these studies we sought to examine differential gene expression in response to salinity for two widely used Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes, Wassilewskija (Ws) and Columbia (Col), and a single gene mutation (glabrous, gl1-1) in the Col background (Col(gl)), in relation to genetic, phenotypic, and fitness differences. Growth analyses were performed with seedlings germinated on culture media and growth chamber-grown plants carried through the full life cycle. Transcriptome analyses were performed with salt treated and control growth-chamber grown plants six days post initiation of salt stress. Ws plants had the least salt injury and highest dry matter accumulation and seed production in salt stressed conditions. ELPs among genoytypes and in response to 100 mM NaCl were enriched for genes associated with response to stress, including stress-associated transcription factors, heat shock and redox metabolism genes, and R genes. Application of salt resulted in many more transcripts up- or down-regulated in Col and Ws than in Col(gl). Many of the transcripts influenced by salt in Col were already altered in gl1-1 plants in the absence of salt, although Col(gl) plants did not show any detectable signs of stress, or effects on fecundity in the absence of salt treatment. The majority of salt-induced transcriptional changes that occurred in Ws also occurred in Col, suggesting common salt stress responses in these two ecotypes. Many more genes were affected by salt in Col than Ws, however, possibly reflecting the greater salt injury observed for Col. There was minimal overlap between the transcripts that differed for Ws and Col prior to salt treatment and those that were subsequently affected by salt stress. Thus, many genes conferring comparative salt stress tolerance in Ws likely differ from those whose expression levels are modified in response to salt stress. These studies demonstrate transcriptional variation among Arabidopsis genotypes in response to salt stress. Greater transcriptome differences did not necessarily correspond with greater genetic difference or phenotypic differences in morphology, fecundity, and resistance to salt stress. These results suggest that depending on circumstance, transcriptional changes can reflect response to injury, facilitate adaptive expression of fitness-associated traits, or allow for phenotypic buffering to minimize the impact of genetic changes. Three Arabidopsis genotypes were grown in the growth chamber in the absence and presence of salt stress. Plants from 20 days after sowing (6 days after salt treatment) were used for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. There were two biological replicates for each genotype and salt treatment combination.

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RNA-seq analysis of Withania somnifera after exposure to high salt concentrations

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