Project description:Rhizobia are soil bacteria that induce nodule formation on leguminous plants. In the nodules, they reduce dinitrogen to ammonium that can be utilized by plants. Besides nitrogen fixation, rhizobia have other symbiotic functions in plants including phosphorus and iron mobilization and protection of the plants against various abiotic stresses including salinity. Worldwide, about 20% of cultivable and 33% of irrigation land is saline, and it is estimated that around 50% of the arable land will be saline by 2050. Salinity inhibits plant growth and development, results in senescence, and ultimately plant death. The purpose of this study was to investigate how rhizobia, isolated from Kenyan soils, relieve common beans from salinity stress. The yield loss of common bean plants, which were either not inoculated or inoculated with the commercial R. tropici rhizobia CIAT899 was reduced by 73% when the plants were exposed to 300 mM NaCl, while only 60% yield loss was observed after inoculation with a novel indigenous isolate from Kenyan soil, named S3. Expression profiles showed that genes involved in the transport of mineral ions (such as K+, Ca2+, Fe3+, PO43-, and NO3-) to the host plant, and for the synthesis and transport of osmotolerance molecules (soluble carbohydrates, amino acids, and nucleotides) are highly expressed in S3 bacteroids during salt stress than in the controls. Furthermore, genes for the synthesis and transport of glutathione and γ-aminobutyric acid were upregulated in salt-stressed and S3-inocculated common bean plants. We conclude that microbial osmolytes, mineral ions, and antioxidant molecules from rhizobia enhance salt tolerance in common beans.
Project description:Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most consumed grain legume in developing countries in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa1. Like other legumes, common bean seeds are rich in protein, carbohydrates, fibers and other health-promoting phenolic compounds thus being vital for food security and income source for local small farmers2. Seed quality traits depend on accumulation of various storage molecules during the seed development (SD) process and influenced by the genotype and adaptive changes to environment3. Concerning common bean, there is still a lack of a deeper molecular knowledge of SD that is hampering the development of new biotech approaches for seed trait modulation and could timely address challenges of agriculture or industry. Our present work aims to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying SD using a proteomic approach. To achieve this goal, we characterized SD in terms biomass, seed length and weight in the genotype SER16, one of the most promissory drought-resistant release of the CIAT-CGIAR. Seed samples were collected at the 4 main SD stages: Late-Embryogenesis (10 days after anthesis, d.a.a.), Early (20 d.a.a.) and Late Maturation (30 d.a.a.) and Desiccation (40 d.a.a.). The analysis of bean proteome was conducted using a gel-free proteomic analysis (LC-MS/MS) under the scope of EU-FP7-PRIME-XS project. A total of 410 unique proteins were differentially expressed throughout the 4 major seed development stages, in which most of the identified proteins belong in the ‘protein metabolism’ (31,98%) functional category, that includes synthesis, regulation, folding. Other functional categories are represented such as carbohydrate and lipid metabolism (11,26%) and stress/defense and redox metabolism (11,04%). We identified 93 proteins were unique to the first (10-20 d.a.a.), 22 to the second (20-30 d.a.a.) and 40 to the last (30-40 d.a.a.) phase transition, reflecting the major biological processes occurring at this specific seed developmental stage. This study will contribute to reveal key metabolic pathways and mechanisms with potential role in modulating common bean seed development and quality traits.
Project description:The pod is the main edible part of Phaseolus vulgaris L. (common bean). The commercial use of the pods is mainly affected by their color. Consumers seem to prefer golden pods. However, planters suffer economic losses because of pod color instability. The aim of the present study was to identify the gene responsible for the golden pod trait in the common bean. ‘A18-1’ (a golden bean line) and ‘Renaya’ (a green bean line) were chosen as the experimental materials. Genetic analysis indicated that a single recessive gene, pv-ye, controls the golden pod trait. A candidate region of 4.24-Mb was mapped to chromosome A02 using bulked-segregant analysis coupled to whole genome sequencing. In this region, linkage analysis in an F2 population localized the pv-ye gene to an interval of 182.9-kb between the simple sequence repeat markers SSR77 and SSR93. This region comprised 16 genes in this region, comprising 12 annotated genes from the P. vulgaris database, and 4 functionally unknown genes. Combined with transcriptome sequencing, we identified Phvul.002G006200 as the potential candidate gene for pv-ye. Sequencing of Phvul.002G006200 identified a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in pv-ye. This SNP is located in the coding region and is responsible for substituting a glutamic acid with an glutamine at position 416 of the pv-ye protein (E416Q). A pair of primers covering the SNP was designed and the fragment was sequenced to screen 316 F2 plants with the ‘A18-1’ phenotype, based on the different site. Our findings showed that the among the 316 mapped individuals, the SNP cosegregated with the ‘A18-1’ phenotype. The findings presented here could form the basis to reveal the mechanism of the golden pod trait in the common bean at the molecular level.
Project description:TIFY is a large plant-specific transcription factor gene family. A subgroup of TIFY genes named JAZ (Jasmonate-ZIM domain) has been identified as repressors of jasmonate (JA)-regulated transcription in Arabidopsis and other plants. JA signaling is involved in many aspects of plant growth/development and in the defense responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here we identified the TIFY genes (designated as PvTIFY) from the legume common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and functionally characterized PvTIFY10C as a transcriptional regulator. Twenty-three genes from the PvTIFY gene family were identified through whole genome sequence analysis. Most of these were induced upon methyl-JA elicitation. We selected PvTIFY10C as a representative JA-responsive PvTIFY gene for further functional analysis. Transcriptome analysis via microarray hybridization using the designed Bean Custom Array 90K was performed in transgenic roots of composite plants with modulated -RNAi-silencing or over-expression- PvTIFY10C gene expression. Data were interpreted using Mapman adapted to common bean. Microarray differential gene expression data were validated by real-time qRT-PCR expression analysis. Comparative global gene expression analysis revealed opposite regulatory changes in processes such as RNA and protein regulation, stress response and metabolism in silenced vs. over-expressing roots. These data point to transcript reprogramming -mainly repression- orchestrated by PvTIFY10C. In addition we found that several PvTIFY genes as well as genes from the JA biosynthetic pathway responded to P-deficiency. Relevant P-responsive genes that participate in carbon metabolic pathways, cell wall synthesis, lipid metabolism, transport, DNA, RNA and protein regulation, signaling, were oppositely-regulated in control vs. PvTIFY10C silenced roots. These data indicate that PvTIFY10C regulates, directly or indirectly, gene expression of some P-responsive genes something that could be mediated by JA-signaling. Our work contributed to the functional characterization of PvTIFY transcriptional regulators in common bean, an agronomically important legume. Members from the large PvTIFY gene family are important global transcriptional regulators that could participate as repressors of the JA signaling pathway. In addition we propose that the JA-signaling pathway that involves PvTIFY genes might play a role in regulating the plant response / adaptation to P-starvation.
Project description:TIFY is a large plant-specific transcription factor gene family. A subgroup of TIFY genes named JAZ (Jasmonate-ZIM domain) has been identified as repressors of jasmonate (JA)-regulated transcription in Arabidopsis and other plants. JA signaling is involved in many aspects of plant growth/development and in the defense responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. Here we identified the TIFY genes (designated as PvTIFY) from the legume common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and functionally characterized PvTIFY10C as a transcriptional regulator. Twenty-three genes from the PvTIFY gene family were identified through whole genome sequence analysis. Most of these were induced upon methyl-JA elicitation. We selected PvTIFY10C as a representative JA-responsive PvTIFY gene for further functional analysis. Transcriptome analysis via microarray hybridization using the designed Bean Custom Array 90K was performed in transgenic roots of composite plants with modulated -RNAi-silencing or over-expression- PvTIFY10C gene expression. Data were interpreted using Mapman adapted to common bean. Microarray differential gene expression data were validated by real-time qRT-PCR expression analysis. Comparative global gene expression analysis revealed opposite regulatory changes in processes such as RNA and protein regulation, stress response and metabolism in silenced vs. over-expressing roots. These data point to transcript reprogramming -mainly repression- orchestrated by PvTIFY10C. In addition we found that several PvTIFY genes as well as genes from the JA biosynthetic pathway responded to P-deficiency. Relevant P-responsive genes that participate in carbon metabolic pathways, cell wall synthesis, lipid metabolism, transport, DNA, RNA and protein regulation, signaling, were oppositely-regulated in control vs. PvTIFY10C silenced roots. These data indicate that PvTIFY10C regulates, directly or indirectly, gene expression of some P-responsive genes something that could be mediated by JA-signaling.