Project description:<p><strong>INTRODUCTION:</strong> The aphid Rhopalosiphum padi L. is a vector of Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) in wheat and other economically important cereal crops. Increased atmospheric CO2 has been shown to alter plant growth and metabolism, enhancing BYDV disease in wheat. However, the biochemical influences on aphid metabolism are not known.</p><p><strong>OBJECTIVES:</strong> This work aims to determine whether altered host-plant quality, influenced by virus infection and elevated CO2, impacts aphid weight and metabolism.</p><p><strong>METHODS:</strong> Untargeted 1H NMR metabolomics coupled with multivariate statistics were employed to profile the metabolism of R. padi reared on virus-infected and non-infected (sham-inoculated) wheat grown under ambient CO2 (aCO2, 400 µmol mol−1) and future, predicted elevated CO2 (eCO2, 650 µmol mol−1) concentrations. Un-colonised wheat was also profiled to observe changes to host-plant quality (i.e., amino acids and sugars).</p><p><strong>RESULTS:</strong> The direct impacts of virus or eCO2 were compared. Virus presence increased aphid weight under aCO2 but decreased weight under eCO2; whilst eCO2 increased non-viruliferous (sham) aphid weight but decreased viruliferous aphid weight. Discriminatory metabolites due to eCO2 were succinate and sucrose (in sham wheat), glucose, choline and betaine (in infected wheat), and threonine, lactate, alanine, GABA, glutamine, glutamate and asparagine (in aphids), irrespective of virus presence. Discriminatory metabolites due to virus presence were alanine, GABA, succinate and betaine (in wheat) and threonine and lactate (in aphids), irrespective of CO2 treatment.</p><p><strong>CONCLUSION:</strong> This study confirms that virus and eCO2 alter host-plant quality, and these differences are reflected by aphid weight and metabolism.</p>
Project description:Root foraging strategy of wheat for potassium (K) heterogeneity is based on special gene expressions. Low-K responsive genes, such as peroxidases, mitochondrion, transcription factor activity, calcium ion binding and respiration, up-regulated in Sp. NK rather than in Sp. LK. Methyltransferase activity, protein amino acid phosphorylation, potassium ion transport, protein kinase activity genes were found among down-regulated genes in Sp. LK. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression underlying wheat root foraging strategy and identified distinct classes of up-regulated and down-regulated genes during this process.
Project description:In this study we explain the physiological, biochemical and gene expression mechanisms adopted by nitrate-fed Arabidopsis thaliana plants growing under elevated [CO2], highlighting the importance of root-to-shoot interactions in these responses The transcriptomic approach (conducted at the root and shoot level) revealed that exposure to 800 ppm [CO2] conditioned the expression of genes involved in the transport of nitrate and mineral elements.
Project description:A complex regulatory network is the mechanism of wheat roots responding to drought stress at low and adequate phosphorus levels. The transcription levels of genes encoding silicon transporters, phosphate transporters, sucrose synthesis, etc., are mostly up-regulated in Xindong20. The genes encoding the electron transport chain and the respiratory chain are mostly down-regulated in Xindong23. These results suggest that wheat roots should maintain the structural integrity of the cells and reduce the energy metabolism during the coupled stress of drought and low phosphorus, which will help to improve the drought tolerance of wheat. The objective of the present data was to increase the information about the effect of drought on the transcriptomes of wheat root cultured by two phosphorus levels.
Project description:Barley contains a much higher content of bioactive substances than wheat. In order to investigate the effect of genome interaction between barley and wheat on phytosterol content, we used a series of barley chromosome addition lines of common wheat. The wheat 38k-microarray was utilized for screening of genes with expression levels specifically increased by an additive effect or synergistic action between wheat and barley chromosomes. We determined the overall expression pattern of genes related to phytosterol biosynthesis in wheat and in each addition line. Together with determining the phytosterol levels of wheat, barley and each addition line, we assess the critical genes in the phytosterol pathway that can be expressed to promote phytosterol levels. Gene expression levels of each barley chromosome addition line of common wheat were compared to that of common wheat. Total RNA samples were isolated from the 2-week-old seedling leaves. The experiments were replicated three times for each addition line using independent samples.
Project description:Phenotypic responses to biotic stresses are often studied as the interactions between two species; however, in the phytobiome, these responses frequently result from complex interactions involving several organisms. Here, we show that variation in chlorosis caused by Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia) feeding is determined, in part, by aphid-associated bacteria. Proteomic analysis of fluids injected into a sterile medium by the aphid during feeding indicate that 99% of the proteins are of bacterial origin. Of these, the greatest proportion are produced by bacteria in the order Enterobacteriales. Bacteria from five genera in four families that have the capacity to produce these proteins were isolated directly from aphids as well as from wheat leaves only after D. noxia feeding. By themselves or in combination, these bacteria were not virulent to wheat, even at high inoculum levels. Metagenomic analysis showed that the same five D. noxia-associated genera dominated the non-Buchnera component of the aphid microbiome, and that representation of these genera was reduced in aphids from colonies established after isolation of newborn nymphs from their mothers prior to feeding (‘isolated’ aphids). Isolation or treatment with antibiotics reduced bacterial numbers, and these aphids caused less feeding damage on wheat than non-isolated or non-antibiotic treated aphids. Our data show that bacterial proteins are a significant component of Russian wheat aphid saliva, that the bacteria producing these proteins are associated with aphids and plants fed upon by aphids, and that these aphid-associated bacteria facilitate aphid virulence to wheat.
Project description:The main objective of the present work is the transcriptomic analysis of the interaction between nitrogen nutrition and CO2 levels in maritime pine. For this purpose, seedlings were fertilized with nitrate or ammonium and grown in two different CO2 levels: normal (400 ppm) and high (720ppm).
Project description:Barley contains a much higher content of bioactive substances than wheat. In order to investigate the effect of genome interaction between barley and wheat on phytosterol content, we used a series of barley chromosome addition lines of common wheat. The wheat 38k-microarray was utilized for screening of genes with expression levels specifically increased by an additive effect or synergistic action between wheat and barley chromosomes. We determined the overall expression pattern of genes related to phytosterol biosynthesis in wheat and in each addition line. Together with determining the phytosterol levels of wheat, barley and each addition line, we assess the critical genes in the phytosterol pathway that can be expressed to promote phytosterol levels.