Project description:Obtaining large amounts of protein of plant origin is an indispensable prospect from the perspective of environmental changes taking place on earth. However, it is extremely important to be able to diversify the sources of plant proteins, which is affected, among other things, by their local availability, sensitivity to specific climatic conditions of the region, and the qualitative differentiation of amino acids. A lot of data show that higher amounts of protein with improved properties can be obtained from species native to a specific climate zone. In Europe, such species include yellow lupine (Lupinus luteus L.), narrow-leaved lupine (Lupinus angustifolius) and white lupine (Lupinus albus L.). In the case of yellow lupine, the amount may be up to 40% of the dry weight of the seeds. Additionally, these proteins have a favorable amino acid composition. Detailed understanding of the mechanisms and the process of accumulating storage proteins is invaluable for the study of the use of this species to increase the production of plant proteins. In the presented work, yellow lupine seeds cultivar Taper, which were cultivated in the field, were used for the research. Therefore, the aim of the research was to identify genes encoding storage proteins (conglutins) and genes regulating the process of accumulation of storage proteins in the seeds of yellow lupine cultivar Taper in the following days of their development.
Project description:Deciphering the various chemical modifications of both DNA and the histone compound of chromatin not only leads to a better understanding of the genome-wide organization of epigenetic landmarks and their impact on gene expression but may also provide some insights into the evolutionary processes. Although both histone modifications and DNA methylation have been widely investigated in various plant genomes, here we present the first study for the genus Lupinus. Lupins, which are members of grain legumes (pulses), are beneficial for food security, nutrition, health and the environment. In order gain a better understanding of the epigenetic organization of genomes in lupins we applied the immunostaining of methylated histone H3 and DNA methylation as well as whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. We revealed variations in the patterns of chromatin modifications at the chromosomal level among three crop lupins, i.e. L. angustifolius (2n=40), L. albus (2n=50) and L. luteus (2n=52), and the legume model plant Medicago truncatula (2n=16). Different chromosomal patterns were found depending on the specific modification, e.g. H3K4me2 was localised in the terminal parts of L. angustifolius and M. truncatula chromosomes, which is in agreement with the results that have been obtained for other species. Interestingly, in L. albus and L. luteus this modification was limited to one arm in the case of all of the chromosomes in the complement. Additionally, H3K9me2 was detected in all of the analysed species except L. luteus. DNA methylation sequencing (CG, CHG and CHH contexts) of aforementioned crop but also wild lupins such as L. cosentinii (2n=32), L. digitatus (2n=36), L. micranthus (2n=52) and L. pilosus (2n=42) supported the range of interspecific diversity. The examples of epigenetic modifications illustrate the diversity of lupin genomes and could be helpful for elucidating further epigenetic changes in the evolution of the lupin genome.