Project description:The screening of 741,000 variants in 420 individuals from Arabian Peninsula (100 from Saudi Arabia, 100 from Yemen, 100 from Oman and 120 from UAE) and 80 individuals from Iran.
Project description:Venomous animals have traditionally been studied from a proteomic (but also transcriptomic) perspective, often overlooking the study of venom from a genomic point of view until recently. The rise of genomics has led to an increase in the number of reference genomes for non-model organisms, including venomous taxa, enabling new questions on venom evolution from a genomic context. Although venomous snakes are the fundamental model system in venom research, the number of high-quality reference genomes in the group remains limited. In this study, we present a high-quality chromosome-level reference genome for the Arabian horned viper (Cerastes gasperettii), a highly venomous snake native to the Arabian Peninsula. Our highly-contiguous genome allowed us to explore macrochromosomal rearrangements within the Viperidae family, as well as across squamate reptile evolution. Furthermore, we identified a total of ten different toxins conforming the venom’s core, in line with our proteomic results. We also compared microsyntenic changes in the main toxin gene clusters with those of other venomous snake species, highlighting the pivotal role of gene duplication and loss in the emergence and diversification of the two main toxin families for Cerastes gasperettii. Using Illumina data, we reconstructed the demographic history and genome-wide diversity of the species, revealing how historical aridity likely drove population expansions. Finally, this study highlights the importance of using long-read sequencing as well as chromosome-level reference genomes to disentangle the origin and diversification of toxin families in venomous species.
Project description:Venomous animals have traditionally been studied from a proteomic (but also transcriptomic) perspective, often overlooking the study of venom from a genomic point of view until recently. The rise of genomics has led to an increase in the number of reference genomes for non-model organisms, including venomous taxa, enabling new questions on venom evolution from a genomic context. Although venomous snakes are the fundamental model system in venom research, the number of high-quality reference genomes in the group remains limited. In this study, we present a high-quality chromosome-level reference genome for the Arabian horned viper (Cerastes gasperettii), a highly venomous snake native to the Arabian Peninsula. Our highly-contiguous genome allowed us to explore macrochromosomal rearrangements within the Viperidae family, as well as across squamate reptile evolution. Furthermore, we identified a total of ten different toxins conforming the venom’s core, in line with our proteomic results. We also compared microsyntenic changes in the main toxin gene clusters with those of other venomous snake species, highlighting the pivotal role of gene duplication and loss in the emergence and diversification of the two main toxin families for Cerastes gasperettii. Using Illumina data, we reconstructed the demographic history and genome-wide diversity of the species, revealing how historical aridity likely drove population expansions. Finally, this study highlights the importance of using long-read sequencing as well as chromosome-level reference genomes to disentangle the origin and diversification of toxin families in venomous species.
Project description:Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of warming and drought periods around the globe, currently representing a threat to many plant species. Understanding the resistance and resilience of plants to climate change is, therefore, urgently needed. As date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) evolved adaptation mechanisms to a xeric environment and is able to tolerate large diurnal and seasonal temperature fluctuations, we studied the protein expression changes in their leaves, volatile organic compound emissions, and photosynthesis in response to variable growth temperatures and soil water deprivation. Plants were grown under controlled environmental conditions under simulated Saudi Arabian summer and winter climates followed by drought stress. We show that date palm is able to counteract the harsh conditions of the Arabian Peninsula by adjusting the abundances of proteins related to the photosynthetic machinery, abiotic stress and secondary metabolism. Under summer climate and water deprivation, these adjustments included efficient protein expression response mediated by heat shock proteins and the antioxidant system to counteract reactive oxygen species formation. Proteins related to secondary metabolism were downregulated, except for the P. dactylifera isoprene synthase (PdIspS), which was strongly upregulated in response to summer climate and drought. This study reports for the first time, the identification and functional characterization of the gene encoding for PdIspS, allowing future analysis of isoprene functions in date palm under extreme environments. Overall, the current results show that protein reprogramming of date palm leaves contribute to heat and drought tolerance. We conclude that the protein plasticity of date palm is one important mechanism of molecular adaptation to remarkable environmental fluctuations.