Project description:The conservation of the endangered Korean fir, Abies koreana, is of critical ecological importance. In our previous study, a yeast-like fungus identified as Aureobasidium pullulans AK10, was isolated and shown to enhance drought tolerance in A. koreana seedlings. In this study, the effectiveness of A. pullulans AK10 treatment in enhancing drought tolerance in A. koreana was confirmed. Furthermore, using transcriptome analysis, we compared A. koreana seedlings treated with A. pullulans AK10 to untreated controls under drought conditions to elucidate the molecular responses involved in increased drought tolerance.
Project description:Interventions: Group 1: Arm 1 - 0.33 L Anthocyanin-rich blueberry / grape juice daily for 28 days. This is followed by a wash-out period of 10 days and a run-in phase of 7 days.
Group 2: Arm 1 - 0.33 L Anthocyanin-reduced blueberry / grape juice daily for 28 days. This is followed by a wash-out period of 10 days and a run-in phase of 7 days.
Primary outcome(s): Inhibition of tumor cell migration in vitro after application of plasma-isolated anthocyanins and metabolites. The endpoint is recorded after 28 days compared to day 1.
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized controlled study; Masking: Blinded (masking used); Control: placebo; Assignment: crossover; Study design purpose: basic science
Project description:Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are increasingly recognized as an important mechanism for cell-cell interactions. Their role in fungi is still poorly understood and they have been isolated from only a handful of species. Here, we isolated and characterized EVs from Aureobasidium pullulans, a biotechnologically important black yeast-like fungus that is increasingly used for biocontrol of phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria. After optimization of the isolation protocol, characterization of EVs from A. pullulans by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed a typical cup-shaped morphology and different subpopulations of EVs. These results were confirmed by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), which revealed that A. pullulans produced 6.1 × 10^8 nanoparticles per milliliter of culture medium. Proteomic analysis of EVs detected 642 proteins. A small fraction of them had signal peptides for secretion and transmembrane domains. Proteins characteristic of different synthesis pathways were found, suggesting that EVs are synthesized by multiple pathways in A. pullulans. Enrichment analysis using Gene Ontology showed that most of the proteins found in the EVs were associated with primary metabolism. When sequencing the small RNA fraction of A. pullulans EVs, we found two hypothetical novel mil-RNAs. Finally, we tested the biocontrol potential of EVs from A. pullulans. The EVs did not inhibit the germination of spores of three important phytopathogenic fungi – Botrytis cinerea, Colletotrichum acutatum, and Penicillium expansum. However, exposure of grown cultures of C. acutatum and P. expansum to A. pullulans EVs resulted in visible changes in morphology of colonies. These preliminary results suggest that EVs may be part of the antagonistic activity of A. pullulans, which is so far only partially understood. Thus, the first isolation and characterization of EVs from A. pullulans provides a starting point for further studies of EVs in the biotechnologically important traits of the biocontrol black fungus A. pullulans in particular and in the biological role of fungal EVs in general.
Project description:Full transcriptomes of the Botrytis cinerea wild-type strain B0510 and the null-mutants deltaBcVEL1 and deltaBcLAE1, cultured onto solid grape juice medium with cellophane overlays , were compared to identify BcVEL1 or/and BcLAE1-dependent genes. The Botrytis cinerea wild-type strain and the null-mutants deltaBcVEL1 and BcLAE1 were cultured for 48h onto solid grape juice medium with cellophane overlays. 4 replicates were performed. The 12 total-RNA samples (3 strains* 4 replicates) were used for hybridization on NimbleGen 4plex gene expression arrays (20,885 gene models from Botrytis cinerea with three 60-mer probes per gene).