Project description:Root microbiota is important for plant growth and fitness. Little is known about whether and how the assembly of root microbiota may be controlled by epigenetic regulation, which is crucial for gene transcription and genome stability. Here we show that dysfunction of the histone demethylase IBM1 (INCREASE IN BONSAI METHYLATION 1) in Arabidopsis thaliana substantially reshaped the root microbiota, with the majority of the significant amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) being decreased. Transcriptome analyses of plants grown in soil and in sterile growth-medium jointly disclosed salicylic acid (SA)-mediated autoimmunity and production of the defense metabolite camalexin in the ibm1 mutants. Analyses of genome-wide histone modifications and DNA methylation highlighted epigenetic modifications permissive for transcription at several important defense regulators. Consistently, ibm1 mutants showed increased resistance to the pathogen Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 with stronger immune responses. In addition, ibm1 showed substantially impaired plant growth-promotion in response to beneficial bacteria; the impairment was partially mimicked by exogenous application of SA to wild type plants, and by a null mutation of AGP19 that is important for cell expansion and that is repressed with DNA hyper methylation in ibm1. IBM1-dependent epigenetic regulation imposes strong and broad impacts on plant-microbe interactions and thereby shapes the assembly of root microbiota.
Project description:In this study, a cross species hybridization (CSH) approach was used to evaluate whole transcriptome changes during carotenoid accumulation in the storage root of carrot (Daucus carota). Carotenoids are isoprenoid compounds providing red, yellow and orange color to plants. Previous gene expression analyses of carotenoid accumulation in non-model plant species have primarily used a candidate gene approach. Since global transcriptome analyses require extensive genome sequence, in the absence of these genomic resources an alternate approach uses platforms developed for model plant species. To assess transcriptome patterns associated with carotenoid pigmentation in carrot storage root, two carrot sibling inbred lines, B8788, true breeding for orange color and B8750, true breeding for white root color, were hybridized to the Medicago Affymetrix GeneChip microarray.
Project description:Plants and rhizosphere microbes rely closely on each other, with plants supplying carbon to bacteria in root exudates, and bacteria mobilizing soil-bound phosphate for plant nutrition. When the phosphate supply becomes limiting for plant growth, the composition of root exudation changes, affecting rhizosphere microbial communities and microbially-mediated nutrient fluxes. To evaluate how plant phosphate deprivation affects rhizosphere bacteria, Lolium perenne seedlings were root-inoculated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa 7NR, and grown in axenic microcosms under different phosphate regimes (330 uM vs 3-6 uM phosphate). The effect of biological nutrient limitation was examined by DNA microarray studies of rhizobacterial gene expression.
Project description:The goal of this study was to evaluate the molecular mechanisms by which Brachypodium distachyon grown with and without Pseudomonas fluorescens (P. fluorescens) strain SBW25 respond to Fe deprivation. Fe deprivation induced Brachypodium secretion of phytosiderophores and reduced biomass production while inoculation with P. fluorescens resulted in alterations of extracellular metabolite abundances. Results provide insight into the role of iron in interactions between a host plant and root associated bacteria.
Project description:Pseudomonas fluorescens strain SS101 (Pf.SS101) promotes growth of Arabidopsis thaliana, enhances greening and lateral root formation, and induces systemic resistance (ISR) against the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst). Here, targeted and untargeted approaches were adopted to identify bacterial determinants and underlying mechanisms involved in plant growth promotion and ISR by Pf.SS101. Based on targeted analyses, no evidence was found for volatiles, lipopeptides and siderophores in plant growth promotion by Pf.SS101. Untargeted, genome-wide analyses of 7,488 random transposon mutants of Pf.SS101 led to the identification of 21 mutants defective in both plant growth promotion and ISR. Many of these mutants, however, were auxotrophic and impaired in root colonization. Genetic analysis of three mutants followed by site-directed mutagenesis, genetic complementation and plant bioassays revealed the involvement of the phosphogluconate dehydratase gene edd, the response regulator gene colR and the adenylsulfate reductase gene cysH in both plant growth promotion and ISR. Subsequent comparative plant transcriptomics analyses strongly suggest that modulation of sulfur assimilation, auxin biosynthesis and transport, steroid biosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism in Arabidopsis are key mechanisms linked to growth promotion and ISR by Pf.SS101. Comparative transcriptome analysis of Arabidopsis treated with Pf. SS101, a growth and ISR promoting rhizobacteria and plants treated with cysH mutant of Pf.SS101 that fails to induce the afformentioned phenotypes
Project description:The rhizosphere is a small region surrounding plant roots that is enriched in biochemicals from root exudates and populated with fungi, nematode, and bacteria. Interaction of rhizosphere organisms with plants is mainly promoted by exudates from the roots. Root exudates contain biochemicals that come from primary and secondary metabolisms of plants. These biochemicals attract microbes, which influence plant nutrition. The rhizosphere bacteria (microbiome) are vital to plant nutrient uptake and influence biotic and abiotic stress and pathogenesis. Pseudomonas is a genus of gammaproteobacteria known for its ubiquitous presence in natural habitats and its striking ecological, metabolic, and biochemical diversity. Within the genus, members of the Pseudomonas fluorescens group are common inhabitants of soil and plant surfaces, and certain strains function in the biological control of plant disease, protecting plants from infection by soilborne and aerial plant pathogens. The soil bacterium Pseudomonas protegens Pf-5 (also known as Pseudomonas fluorescens Pf-5) is a well-characterized biological strain, which is distinguished by its prolific production of the secondary metabolite, pyoverdine. Knowledge of the distribution of P. fluorescens secretory activity around plant roots is very important for understanding the interaction between P. fluorescens and plants and can be achieved by real time tracking of pyoverdine. To achieve the capability of real-time tracking in soil, we have used a structure-switching SELEX strategy to select high affinity ssDNA aptamers with specificity for pyoverdine over other siderophores. Two DNA aptamers were isolated, and their features compared. The aptamers were applied to a nanoporous aluminum oxide biosensor and demonstrated to successfully detect PYO-Pf5. This sensor provides a future opportunity to track the locations around plant roots of P. protegens and to monitor PYO-Pf5 production and movement through the soil.
Project description:DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that differs between plant organs and tissues, but the extent of variation between cell types is not known. Here, we report single-base resolution whole genome DNA methylomes, mRNA transcriptomes, and small RNA transcriptomes for six cell populations covering the major cell types of the Arabidopsis root meristem. We identify widespread cell type specific patterns of DNA methylation, especially in the CHH sequence context. The genome of the columella root cap is the most highly methylated Arabidopsis cell characterized to date. It is hypermethylated within transposable elements, accompanied by increased abundance of transcripts encoding RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathway components and 24 nt small RNAs. Absence of the nucleosome remodeler DECREASED DNA METHYLATION 1, required for maintenance of DNA methylation, and low abundance of histone transcripts involved in heterochromatin formation suggests a loss of heterochromatin may occur in the columella, thus allowing access of RdDM factors to the whole genome, and producing excess 24 nt small RNAs in this tissue. Together, these maps provide new insights into the epigenomic diversity that exists between distinct plant somatic cell types. MethylC-seq from six cell populations covering the major cell types of the Arabidopsis root meristem.