Project description:Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) are pests of many forests around the world. The mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is a significant pest of western North American pine forests. The MPB is able to overcome the defences of pine trees through pheromone-assisted aggregation that results in a mass attack of host trees. These pheromones, both male and female produced, are believed to be biosynthesized in the midgut and/or fat body of these insects. We have used transcriptomics (RNA-seq) to identify transcripts differentially expressed between sexes and between tissues, with juvenile hormone III treatment, which is known to induce pheromone biosynthesis.
Project description:The present project deals with bark beetle gut total proteome from callow and black bark beetle, Ips typographus. The study aims to identify life stage-specific expression of gut proteins in bark beetles and their functional relevance.
Project description:We performed a transcriptome analysis of interior spruce (Picea glauca x engelmannii) bark response to weevil (Pissodes strobi) feeding using 21.8K spruce microarray (that contains 21.8 thousand unique transcripts). This microarray study revealed a large rearrangement of the interior spruce bark transcriptome in response to weevil feeding involving differential expression of close to 20% of the studied transcriptome. RNA was isolated from the bark of interior spruce exposed to weevil feeding and from the bark of untreated trees at three time points (6 hours, 2 days and 2 weeks). Four independent biological replicates were included for treatment and control at each time point. Four hybridizations were performed for treatment and control comparison within each time point (6 hours, 2 days, 2 weeks) and one hybridization was performed for each comparison between time points for both treatment and control (total 18 hybridizations/slides).
Project description:Acute Oak Decline (AOD) is a decline-disease currently spreading in Britain, threatening oak trees. Here, we analyze and compare the proteomes of inner bark tissue sampled from oak stems of trees symptomatic with AOD and non-symptomatic trees.
Project description:The periderm of trees produces cork cells, whose cell walls are modified with suberin. We compared the transcriptome of outer bark (cork) vs inner bark (control containing secondary phloem and vacular meristem) to infer genes related to suberim metabolism.
Project description:Purpose: de novo sequencing and comparative analysis of the bark transciptomes of Hevea brasiliensis induced without ethephon (C), with ethephon for 8 hours (E8) and 24 hours (E24) to identify the genes and pathways related to the stimulation of rubber production by ethylene. The goals of this study are to reveal the molecular mechanism behind the stimulation of rubber production by ethylene. Methods: Bark RNA was extracted using the TRIzol® Reagent (Invitrogen) and two cDNA libraries, H (healthy rubber trees) and T (TPD-affected trees), were prepared using the mRNA-Seq 8 sample prep Kit (Illumina). The libraries were deep sequenced using Illumina HiSeqTM 2000 (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA, USA). Raw reads produced from sequencing machines were resorted to de novo assembly and gene annotation. Results: De novo sequencing and assembly of the bark transciptomes of Hevea brasiliensis induced with ethephon for 8 hours (E8) and 24 hours (E24) were performed. 51,965,770, 52,303,714 and 53,177,976 high-quality clean reads from E8, E24 and C (control) samples were assembled into 81,335, 80,048 and 80,800 unigenes respectively, with a total of 84,425 unigenes and an average length of 1,101 bp generated. 10,216 and 9,374 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in E8 and E24 compared with C were respectively detected. The expression of several enzymes in crucial points of regulation in glycolysis were up-regulated and DEGs were not significantly enriched in isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) biosynthesis pathway. In addition, up-regulated genes of great regulatory importance in carbon fixation (Calvin cycle) were identified. Conclusions: The rapid acceleration of glycolytic pathway supplying precursors for the biosynthesis of IPP and natural rubber, instead of rubber biosynthesis per se, may be responsible for ethylene stimulation of latex yield in rubber tree. The elevated rate of flux throughout the Calvin cycle may account for some durability of ethylene-induced stimulation. Our finding lays the foundations for molecular diagnostic and genetic engineering for high-yielding improvement of rubber tree. De novo sequencing of the transcriptomes of C (bark without ethephon application), E8 (bark with 1.5%-ethephon treatment for 8 hours) and E24 (bark with 1.5%-ethephon treatment for 24 hours) rubber trees was conducted using Illumina HiSeq 2000.