Project description:Root exudates play an important role in plant-microbe interaction. The transcriptional profilings of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens SQR9 in response to maize root exudates under static condition, were investigated by an Illumina RNA-seq for understanding the regulatory roles of the root exudates.
Project description:Plants are naturally associated with diverse microbial communities, which play significant roles in plant performance, such as growth promotion or fending off pathogens. The roots of Alkanna tinctoria L. are rich in naphthoquinones, particularly the medicinally used chiral compounds alkannin, shikonin and their derivatives. Former studies already have shown that microorganisms may modulate plant metabolism. To further investigate the potential interaction between A. tinctoria and associated microorganisms we performed a greenhouse experiment, in which A. tinctoria plants were grown in the presence of three distinct soil microbiomes. At four defined plant developmental stages we made an in-depth assessment of bacterial and fungal root-associated microbiomes as well as all primary and secondary metabolites. Our results showed that the plant developmental stage was the most important driver influencing the plant metabolite content, revealing peak contents of alkannin/shikonin at the fruiting stage. In contrast, the soil microbiome had the biggest impact on the plant root microbiome. Correlation analyses performed on the measured metabolite content and the abundance of individual bacterial and fungal taxa suggested a dynamic, at times positive or negative relationship between root-associated microorganisms and root metabolism. In particular, the bacterial Allorhizobium-Neorhizobium-Pararhizobium-Rhizobium group and the fungal species Penicillium jensenii were found to be positively correlated with higher content of alkannins.
Project description:The transformation of Sinorhizobium bacteria into nitrogen-fixing bacteroids located in the root-nodules of the Medicago plants is controlled by specific peptides released by the plants. In our study root nodules, and differently purified bacteroid mixtures were studied. Detailed description about sample preparation and data interpretation can be found in "Identification of Nodule-Specific Cysteine-Rich Plant Peptides in Endosymbiotic Bacteria" by H. Durgo et al., Proteomics (2015). CID spectra supporting all NCR identifications can be viewed using MS-Viewer on the public Protein Prospector website (prospector.ucsf.edu), search key: h7swi0wcik.
Project description:The root system is a crucial determinant of plant growth potential because of its important functions, e.g., acquisition of water and nutrients, structural support, and interaction with symbiotic organisms. Elucidating the molecular mechanisms of root development and functions is therefore necessary for improving plant productivity, particularly for crop plants including rice. As an initial step towards developing a comprehensive understanding of the root system, we performed a large-scale transcriptome analysis of the rice root via a combined laser microdissection and microarray analysis approach.