Project description:Spaceflight has an impact on growth and development of higher plants at both vegetative stage and reproductive stage. A great deal of information has been available on the vegetative stage in space, but relatively little is known about the influence of spaceflight on plants at the reproductive stage. In this study, we constructed a transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants expressing flowering control gene, FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), together with green fluorescent protein gene(GFP) under control of a heat shock-inducible promoter (HSP17.4), by which we induced FT expression inflight through remote controlling heating shock (HS) treatment. Inflight photography data showed that induction of FT expression in plants in space under short-day condition could eliminated the difference of stem length between spaceflight and ground control . Whole-genome microarray analysis of gene expression changes in leaves of wild-type and these transgenic plants grown under the long-day and short-day photoperiod conditions in space indicated that the function of the photoperiod-related spaceflight responsive genes are mainly involved in protein synthesis and post-translation protein modulation, notably protein phosphorylation. In addition, changes of circadian component gene expression in response to spaceflight under different photoperiod indicated that roles of circadian oscillator could act as integrators of spaceflight response and photoperiodic signals in Arabidopsis plants grown in space.
Project description:Plants in temperate regions have evolved mechanisms to survive sudden temperature drops. Previous reports have indicated that the cold acclimation mechanism is light-dependent and does not fully operate under a low light intensity. In these studies, plants were grown under a long-day photoperiod and were more sensitive to freezing stress. However, winter annuals like Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 germinate in the fall, overwinter as rosettes, and therefore must acclimate under short photoperiods and low irradiance. The role of light intensity was analysed in plants grown under a short-day photoperiod at the growth stage 1.14. Plants were acclimated at 4 °C for seven days under 100 and 20 μmol m-2s-1 PPFD for control and limited-light conditions, respectively. All cold acclimated plants accumulated molecular markers reportedly associated with acquired freezing tolerance, including proline, sucrose, CBFs, and COR gene protein products dehydrins and low-temperature-responsive proteins LTIs. Observed changes indicated that low PPFD did not inhibit the cold acclimation process, and the freezing stress experiment confirmed similar survival rates. The molecular analysis found distinct PPFD-specific adaptation mechanisms that were manifested in contrasting content of anthocyanins, cytokinin conjugates, abundances of proteins forming photosystems, and enzymes of protein, energy, and ROS metabolism pathways. Finally, this study led to the identification of putative proteins and metabolite markers correlating with susceptibility to freezing stress of non-acclimated plants grown under low PPFD. Our data show that Arabidopsis plants grown under short-day photoperiod can be fully cold-acclimated under limited light conditions, employing standard and PPFD-specific pathways.
Project description:Winter season with reduced day length (photoperiod); led to the growth cessation, dormancy induction and cold acclimation in woody perennial plants. To develop an understanding of the photoperiod signal transduction in Vitis riparia; shoot tip transcriptome profiling was performed under differential photoperiod treatments (long (LD, 15h) and short day (SD, 13h)) for 7 or 21 days after shoots reached 10 nodes (LD7, SD7, LD21 or SD21).
Project description:Replicate populations of Aedes albopictus were reared under diapause-inducing short day photoperiod (8h light: 16h dark) and diapause-averting long day photoperiod (16h light:8h dark). Eggs were collected from each replicate and snap-frozen 11d post-oviposition. We hope to characterize the metabolomic and lipidomic profiles of diapausing eggs relative to non-diapause eggs.
Project description:Replicate populations of Aedes albopictus were reared under diapause-inducing short day photoperiod (8h light: 16h dark) and diapause-averting long day photoperiod (16h light:8h dark). Eggs were collected from each replicate and snap-frozen 11d post-oviposition. We hope to characterize the metabolomic and lipidomic profiles of diapausing eggs relative to non-diapause eggs.
Project description:Across evolutionary time, nearly all animal species have harnessed photoperiod to initiate processes that ultimately influence seasonal behavior and life history traits. In the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia magna, the effect of photoperiod on various life history traits has generally been investigated in conjunction with additional environmental stimuli. In the present study, we sought to untangling responses directly attributable to photoperiod in D. magna and identify the molecular processes underlying resultant behavioral and life history responses using functional analysis of global transcriptomic expression. D. magna were exposed to five different photoperiods immediately post-hatch for 21d where a standard long-day photoperiod of 16 hours light and 8 hours dark (16L:8D) served as the control relative to 4L:20D, 8L:16D, 12L:12L, and 20L:4D photoperiods. Entrainment to short-day photo-periods (4L:20D, 8L:16D, and 12L:12L) resulted in significantly increased light-avoidance behaviors relative to the control photoperiod where young Daphnia (7d old) displayed the most pronounced avoidance responses. Correspondingly, functional transcriptomics identified differential transcriptional expression of genes involved in glutamate signaling, which is critical in arthropod light-avoidance responses, as well as period circadian protein and proteins coding F-box/LRR-repeat domains, all of which contribute to establishing circadian rhythms in arthropods. Short-day photoperiods also induced increased metabolic rates which corresponded with broad-scale changes in transcriptional expression across multiple systems-level energy metabolism pathways. The most striking observation was increased male production across short-day photoperiods (4L:20D, 8L:16D, and 12L:12D). Transcriptional expression consistent with multiple putative mechanisms of male production were observed including expression suggestive of increased glutamate signaling; a response observed to induce male production in D. pulex via photo-period sensitive mechanisms. Overall, the results demonstrate the importance of photoperiod on behavior and life history trajectories in D. magna where we have now established multiple putative mechanistic pathways underlying several critical responses.
Project description:Across evolutionary time, nearly all animal species have harnessed photoperiod to initiate processes that ultimately influence seasonal behavior and life history traits. In the freshwater cladoceran Daphnia magna, the effect of photoperiod on various life history traits has generally been investigated in conjunction with additional environmental stimuli. In the present study, we sought to untangling responses directly attributable to photoperiod in D. magna and identify the molecular processes underlying resultant behavioral and life history responses using functional analysis of global transcriptomic expression. D. magna were exposed to five different photoperiods immediately post-hatch for 21d where a standard long-day photoperiod of 16 hours light and 8 hours dark (16L:8D) served as the control relative to 4L:20D, 8L:16D, 12L:12L, and 20L:4D photoperiods. Entrainment to short-day photo-periods (4L:20D, 8L:16D, and 12L:12L) resulted in significantly increased light-avoidance behaviors relative to the control photoperiod where young Daphnia (7d old) displayed the most pronounced avoidance responses. Correspondingly, functional transcriptomics identified differential transcriptional expression of genes involved in glutamate signaling, which is critical in arthropod light-avoidance responses, as well as period circadian protein and proteins coding F-box/LRR-repeat domains, all of which contribute to establishing circadian rhythms in arthropods. Short-day photoperiods also induced increased metabolic rates which corresponded with broad-scale changes in transcriptional expression across multiple systems-level energy metabolism pathways. The most striking observation was increased male production across short-day photoperiods (4L:20D, 8L:16D, and 12L:12D). Transcriptional expression consistent with multiple putative mechanisms of male production were observed including expression suggestive of increased glutamate signaling; a response observed to induce male production in D. pulex via photo-period sensitive mechanisms. Overall, the results demonstrate the importance of photoperiod on behavior and life history trajectories in D. magna where we have now established multiple putative mechanistic pathways underlying several critical responses.
Project description:Transcriptomics study of F2 siblings with different dormancy responsiveness due to photoperiod subjected to long day and short day. F2 040 and F2 110 genotypes were previously described as part of a larger F2 population (Fennell et al., 2005, Acta Hort 689:533-539). The F2 040 and 110 genotypes exhibit photoperiod responsive characteristics similar to the Seyval and V. riparia grandparent, respectively (Fennell et al., 2015, doi: 10.3389/fpls.2015.00834)
Project description:To begin understanding transduction of the photoperiod signal, Vitis riparia Michx. (PI588259) grapevines that had grown for 35 days in long photoperiod (long day, LD, 15h) were subjected to either continued LD or a short photoperiod (short day, SD, 13h) treatment. Shoot tips (4-node shoot terminals) were collected from each treatment at 7 and 28 days of LD and SD for proteomic analysis via two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis. The peptides were identified using MALDI-TOF_TOF mass spectrometer after trypsin digestion. A master gel was made and mapped with all p roteins from both photoperiod treatments. The proteins were identified by matching the peptide sequences against the 12X Vitis vinifera grape genome in NCBI. This study was funded in part by NSF grant DBI064755 and the South Dakota Agriculture Experiment Station.
Project description:Living organisms detect seasonal changes in day length (photoperiod), and alter their physiological functions accordingly, to fit seasonal environmental changes. This photoperiodic system is implicated in seasonal affective disorders and the season-associated symptoms observed in bipolar disease and schizophrenia. Thyroid-stimulating hormone beta subunit (Tshb), induced in the pars tuberalis (PT), plays a key role in the pathway that regulates animal photoperiodism. However, the upstream inducers of Tshb expression remain unknown. Here we show that late-night light stimulation acutely triggers the Eya3-Six1 pathway, which directly induces Tshb expression. Using melatonin-proficient CBA/N mice, which preserve the photoperiodic Tshb-expression response, we performed a genome-wide expression analysis of the PT under chronic short-day and long-day conditions. These data comprehensively identified long-day and short-day genes, and indicated that late-night light stimulation induces long-day genes. We verified this by advancing and extending the light period by 8 hours, which acutely induced Tshb expression, within one day. In a genome-wide expression analysis under this condition, we searched for candidate upstream genes by looking for expression that preceded Tshb’s, and identified Eya3 gene. These results elucidate the comprehensive transcriptional photoperiodic response in the PT, revealing the complex regulation of Tshb expression and unexpectedly rapid response to light changes in the mammalian photoperiodic system. Mice were separated into 2 groups. One group was maintained under the short-day conditions (light: dark = 8 h:16 h, ZT0 = lights on, ZT8 = lights off, 400 lux) and the other was housed under long-day conditions (light:dark = 16 h:8 h, ZT0 = lights on, ZT16 = lights off, 400 lux) for 2 weeks. The PTs of both groups were retrieved every 4 h for 1 day (6 time points for each group), starting at ZT0. For the experiments performed during the first day of the long-day conditions, we applied two different conditions, following 3 weeks under short-day conditions. In one, the light-onset was advanced by 8 hours (advance condition), and in the other, the dark period was delayed by 8 hours (delay condition). PTs from both groups were obtained every 4 h for 1 day, starting at the lights-on time. (Lights on for the advance condition was ZT16 as defined by the short-day condition. Lights on for the delay condition was ZT0). We sampled 25 mice at each time point. This whole procedure was repeated twice (n = 2) to obtain experimental replicates.