Project description:High throughput Illumina sequencing of poly-A selected RNA from Arabidopsis Col and Ler reciprocal F1 hybrid embryo and endosperm tissue isolated at 6-7 days after pollination to identify imprinted genes.
Project description:The nuclear content of the plant endosperm is the result of the contribution two maternal genomes and a single paternal genome. This 2:1 dosage relationship provides a unique system for studying the additivity of gene expression levels in reciprocal hybrids. A combination of microarray profiling and allele-specific expression analysis was performed using RNA isolated from endosperm tissues of maize inbred lines B73 and Mo17 and their reciprocal hybrids at two developmental stages, 13 and 19 days after pollination. By assessing the relative levels of expression in the reciprocal hybrids it was possible to determine the prevalence of additive and non-additive expression patterns. While the majority of differentially expressed genes displayed additive expression patterns in the endosperm, approximately 10% of the genes displayed non-additive expression patterns including maternal-like, paternal-like, dominant high-parent, dominant low-parent and expression patterns outside the range of the inbreds. The frequency of hybrid expression patterns outside of the parental range in maize endosperm tissue is much higher than that observed for vegetative tissues. For a set of 90 genes allele-specific expression assays were employed to monitor allelic bias and regulatory variation. Eight of these genes exhibited evidence for maternally or paternally biased expression at multiple stages of endosperm development and are potential examples of differential imprinting. Collectively, our data indicate that parental effects on gene expression are much stronger in endosperm than in vegetative tissues, and that endosperm imprinting may be far more common than previously estimated. Keywords: genotype comparison
Project description:The nuclear content of the plant endosperm is the result of the contribution two maternal genomes and a single paternal genome. This 2:1 dosage relationship provides a unique system for studying the additivity of gene expression levels in reciprocal hybrids. A combination of microarray profiling and allele-specific expression analysis was performed using RNA isolated from endosperm tissues of maize inbred lines B73 and Mo17 and their reciprocal hybrids at two developmental stages, 13 and 19 days after pollination. By assessing the relative levels of expression in the reciprocal hybrids it was possible to determine the prevalence of additive and non-additive expression patterns. While the majority of differentially expressed genes displayed additive expression patterns in the endosperm, approximately 10% of the genes displayed non-additive expression patterns including maternal-like, paternal-like, dominant high-parent, dominant low-parent and expression patterns outside the range of the inbreds. The frequency of hybrid expression patterns outside of the parental range in maize endosperm tissue is much higher than that observed for vegetative tissues. For a set of 90 genes allele-specific expression assays were employed to monitor allelic bias and regulatory variation. Eight of these genes exhibited evidence for maternally or paternally biased expression at multiple stages of endosperm development and are potential examples of differential imprinting. Collectively, our data indicate that parental effects on gene expression are much stronger in endosperm than in vegetative tissues, and that endosperm imprinting may be far more common than previously estimated. Keywords: genotype comparison
Project description:High throughput Illumina sequencing of poly-A selected RNA from Arabidopsis Col and Ler reciprocal F1 hybrid embryo and endosperm tissue isolated at 6-7 days after pollination to identify imprinted genes. Examination of parent-of-origin specific and total gene expression in seed tissues.
Project description:Here we report genome-wide high resolution allele-specific maps of DNA methylation and histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation (H3K27me3) in maize endosperm. To investigate the allele-specific DNA methylation pattern of maize endosperm on a genome-wide scale, we performed MethylC-seq for shoot, embryo, and endosperm tissue 12 d after pollination (DAP) of inbred B73, and the endosperm tissue 12 DAP of reciprocal crosses B73 Ã Mo17 (BM) and Mo17 Ã B73 (MB). We also performed additional RNA-seq for samples from 12-DAP and 10-DAP endosperm of both reciprocal crosses between inbreds B73 and Mo17
Project description:The seeds of angiosperms are comprised of three main tissues--the seed coat, embryo, and endosperm--whose coordinated development will enable the next generation to disperse with sufficient maternal resources and germinate when conditions are favorable. We use high-throughput RNA sequencing technology to characterize the developmental dynamics of gene expression in whole seeds resulting from a compatible cross between two species of the Mimulus guttatus complex.We find that development in ovules and seeds involves the activation of the majority of annotated genes in M. guttatus (64-67%), and the differential expression over time of 6,691 genes, including 424 transcription factors. Most of the genes we detected (69%) were expressed at all stages, from ovules to heart-stage embryo seeds. We also detected and validated four genes exhibiting paternally-biased expression (MDB13, ATXR5, DnaJ and BGAL11). Intriguingly, three of our validated PEGs are have imprinted homologues in other plant species, suggesting that these proteins perform a shared role in endosperm development among distantly related plant taxa. Additionally, the overlap in gene expression profiles between stages of development suggests that most genes fulfill multiple developmental and biological roles. Future analyses should examine whether different regions of the seed (embryo, endosperm, and seed coat) have unique patterns of gene expression, and the extent to which spatial coordination and regulation of gene expression may play a role in regulating seed development.
Project description:Intraspecific coevolution between selfish elements and suppressors may promote interspecific hybrid incompatibility, but evidence of this process is rare. Here, we use genomic data to test alternative models for the evolution of cytonuclear hybrid male sterility in Mimulus In hybrids between Iron Mountain (IM) Mimulus guttatus × Mimulus nasutus, two tightly linked M. guttatus alleles (Rf1/Rf2) each restore male fertility by suppressing a local mitochondrial male-sterility gene (IM-CMS). Unlike neutral models for the evolution of hybrid incompatibility loci, selfish evolution predicts that the Rf alleles experienced strong selection in the presence of IM-CMS. Using whole-genome sequences, we compared patterns of population-genetic variation in Rf at IM to a neighbouring population that lacks IM-CMS. Consistent with local selection in the presence of IM-CMS, the Rf region shows elevated FST, high local linkage disequilibrium and a distinct haplotype structure at IM, but not at Cone Peak (CP), suggesting a recent sweep in the presence of IM-CMS. In both populations, Rf2 exhibited lower polymorphism than other regions, but the low-diversity outliers were different between CP and IM. Our results confirm theoretical predictions of ubiquitous cytonuclear conflict in plants and provide a population-genetic mechanism for the evolution of a common form of hybrid incompatibility.
Project description:F1 hybrids can outperform their parents in yield and vegetative biomass, features of hybrid vigor which form the basis of the hybrid seed industry. The yield advantage of the F1 is lost in the F2 and subsequent generations. In Arabidopsis, from F2 plants which have a F1 –like phenotype, we have by recurrent selection produced pure breeding F5/F6 lines “Hybrid Mimics”, in which the characteristics of the F1 Hybrid are stabilized. These Hybrid Mimic lines, like the F1 Hybrid, have larger leaves than the parent plant, the leaves having increased photosynthetic cell numbers, and in some lines increased size of cells, suggesting an increased supply of photosynthate. A comparison of the differentially expressed genes in the F1 Hybrid with those of eight Hybrid Mimic lines has identified metabolic pathways altered in both; these pathways include down regulation of defense response pathways and altered abiotic response pathways. F6 Hybrid Mimic lines are mostly homozygous at each locus in the genome yet retain the large F1-like phenotype. Many alleles in the F6 plants, when they are homozygous, have expression levels different to the level in the parent. We consider this altered expression to be a consequence of trans-regulation of genes from one parent by genes from the other parent. Transregulation could also arise from epigenetic modifications in the F1. The pure breeding Hybrid Mimics have been valuable in probing the mechanisms of hybrid vigor and may also prove to be useful hybrid vigor equivalents in agriculture.
Project description:F1 hybrids can outperform their parents in yield and vegetative biomass, features of hybrid vigor which form the basis of the hybrid seed industry. The yield advantage of the F1 is lost in the F2 and subsequent generations. In Arabidopsis, from F2 plants which have a F1 –like phenotype, we have by recurrent selection produced pure breeding F5/F6 lines “Hybrid Mimics”, in which the characteristics of the F1 Hybrid are stabilized. These Hybrid Mimic lines, like the F1 Hybrid, have larger leaves than the parent plant, the leaves having increased photosynthetic cell numbers, and in some lines increased size of cells, suggesting an increased supply of photosynthate. A comparison of the differentially expressed genes in the F1 Hybrid with those of eight Hybrid Mimic lines has identified metabolic pathways altered in both; these pathways include down regulation of defense response pathways and altered abiotic response pathways. F6 Hybrid Mimic lines are mostly homozygous at each locus in the genome yet retain the large F1-like phenotype. Many alleles in the F6 plants, when they are homozygous, have expression levels different to the level in the parent. We consider this altered expression to be a consequence of trans-regulation of genes from one parent by genes from the other parent. Transregulation could also arise from epigenetic modifications in the F1. The pure breeding Hybrid Mimics have been valuable in probing the mechanisms of hybrid vigor and may also prove to be useful hybrid vigor equivalents in agriculture.
Project description:We report the application of single-molecule-based sequencing technology for high-throughput profiling of RNA polymerase II phosphorylated at serine 5 (PolII-S5p; the transcription initiation form) in female mouse cultured hybrid cells and female hybrid brain derived from mouse systems with skewed X inactivation based on crosses between C57BL/6J (BL6) and M. spretus. In these systems, alleles can be differentiated by frequent SNPs between mouse species, and the active X (Xa) compared to the haploid set of autosomes from the same species. To examine PolII-S5p occupancy in vivo, ChIP-seq was done in brain from an adult female F1 mouse in which the BL6 X is always active and the spretus X inactive. Uniquely mapped reads containing informative SNPs were assigned to each haploid chromosome set (BL6 or spretus) and were counted to establish allele-specific PolII-S5p occupancy profiles. We found that PolII-S5p allele-specific occupancy with or without normalization by input genomic DNA sequencing data showed that expressed genes on the Xa (>1RPKM) had 30% higher PolII-S5p peak levels at their promoters compared to autosomal genes from the same species (BL6). This result was confirmed by performing an independent allele-specific ChIP-seq analysis on fibroblasts derived from embryonic kidney (Patski cell line) that have the opposite X inactivation pattern from the brain sample, i.e. an Xa from M. spretus and an Xi from BL6. These findings suggest that transcription initiation of X-linked genes is enhanced to contribute to X upregulation in cell lines and in vivo. Examination of allele-specific PolII-S5p occupancy in mouse hybrid cells and brain.