Project description:Background: The soil environment is responsible for sustaining most terrestrial plant life on earth, yet we know surprisingly little about the important functions carried out by diverse microbial communities in soil. Soil microbes that inhabit the channels of decaying root systems, the detritusphere, are likely to be essential for plant growth and health, as these channels are the preferred locations of new root growth. Understanding the microbial metagenome of the detritusphere and how it responds to agricultural management such as crop rotations and soil tillage will be vital for improving global food production. Methods: The rhizosphere soils of wheat and chickpea growing under + and - decaying root were collected for metagenomics sequencing. A gene catalogue was established by de novo assembling metagenomic sequencing. Genes abundance was compared between bulk soil and rhizosphere soils under different treatments. Conclusions: The study describes the diversity and functional capacity of a high-quality soil microbial metagenome. The results demonstrate the contribution of the microbiome from decaying root in determining the metagenome of developing root systems, which is fundamental to plant growth, since roots preferentially inhabit previous root channels. Modifications in root microbial function through soil management, can ultimately govern plant health, productivity and food security.
Project description:Take-all is a devastating soil-borne disease that affects wheat production. The continuous generation of disease-resistance germplasm is an important aspect of the management of this pathogen. In this study, we characterized the wheat-Psathyrostachys huashania Keng-derived progeny H139 that exhibits significantly improved resistance to wheat take-all disease compared with its susceptible parent 7182. GISH) and mc-FISH analyses revealed that H139 is a stable wheat-P. huashania disomic substitution line lacking wheat chromosome 2D.EST-STS marker and Wheat Axiom 660K Genotyping Array analysis further revealed that H139 was a novel wheat-P. huashania 2Ns/2D substitution line, and that the P. huashania 2Ns chromosome shares high sequence similarity to wheat chromosome 2D. These results indicate that H139, with its enhanced wheat take-all disease resistance and desirable agronomic traits, provides valuable genetic resources for wheat chromosome engineering breeding.
Project description:This phase I clinical trial tests the immune effects of fermented wheat germ in patients with advanced solid tumor cancers who are being treated with standard of care checkpoint inhibitors. Fermented wheat germ is a nutritional supplement that some claim is a "dietary food for special medical purposes for cancer patients" to support them in treatment. There have also been claims that fermented wheat germ is "clinically proven" and "recognized by medical experts" to "enhance oncological treatment" and boost immune response to cancer; however, there are currently no documented therapeutic effects of fermented wheat germ as a nutritional supplement. Checkpoint inhibitors, given as part of standard of care for advanced solid tumors, are a type of immunotherapy that may help the body’s immune system attack the cancer and may interfere with the ability of tumor cells to grow and spread. The information gained from this trial may allow researchers to determine if there is any value of giving fermented wheat germ with standard of care checkpoint inhibitors for patients with advanced solid tumor malignancies.
Project description:Centromeres typically contain repeat sequences, but centromere function does not necessarily depend on these sequences. In aneuploid wheat (Triticum aestivum) and wheat distant hybridization offspring, we found functional centromeres with dramatic changes to centromeric retrotransposon of wheat (CRW) sequences. CRW sequences were greatly reduced in the ditelosomic lines 1BS, 5DS, 5DL, and a wheat-Thinopyrum elongatum addition line. CRWs were completely lost in the ditelosomic line 4DS, but a 994 kb ectopic genomic DNA sequence was involved in de novo centromere formation on the 4DS chromosome. In addition, two ectopic sequences were incorporated in a de novo centromere in a wheat-Th. intermedium addition line. Centromeric sequences were also expanded to the chromosome arm in wide hybridizations. Stable alien chromosomes with two and three regions containing centromeric sequences were found in wheat-Th. elongatum hybrid derivatives, but only one is functional. In wheat-rye (Secale cereale) hybrids, rye centromere specific sequences spread to the chromosome arm and may cause centromere expansion. Thus, distant wheat hybridizations cause frequent and significant changes to the centromere via centromere misdivision, which may affect retention or loss of alien chromosomes in hybrids.
Project description:Centromeres typically contain repeat sequences, but centromere function does not necessarily depend on these sequences. In aneuploid wheat (Triticum aestivum) and wheat distant hybridization offspring, we found functional centromeres with dramatic changes to centromeric retrotransposon of wheat (CRW) sequences. CRW sequences were greatly reduced in the ditelosomic lines 1BS, 5DS, 5DL, and a wheat-Thinopyrum elongatum addition line. CRWs were completely lost in the ditelosomic line 4DS, but a 994 kb ectopic genomic DNA sequence was involved in de novo centromere formation on the 4DS chromosome. In addition, two ectopic sequences were incorporated in a de novo centromere in a wheat-Th. intermedium addition line. Centromeric sequences were also expanded to the chromosome arm in wide hybridizations. Stable alien chromosomes with two and three regions containing centromeric sequences were found in wheat-Th. elongatum hybrid derivatives, but only one is functional. In wheat-rye (Secale cereale) hybrids, rye centromere specific sequences spread to the chromosome arm and may cause centromere expansion. Thus, distant wheat hybridizations cause frequent and significant changes to the centromere via centromere misdivision, which may affect retention or loss of alien chromosomes in hybrids. ChIP-seq was carried out with anti-CENH3 antibody using material 4DS and control (Chinese Spring, CS as short).
Project description:Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) and Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV) are type members of Tritimovirus and Poacevirus genera, respectively, in the family Potyviridae, and are transmitted by wheat curl mites. Co-infection of these two viruses causes synergistic interaction with increased virus accumulation and disease severity in wheat. In this study, we examined the effects of synergistic interaction between WSMV and TriMV on endogenous small (s) RNAs and virus-specific small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) in susceptible (Arapahoe) and temperature-sensitive resistant (Mace) wheat cultivars at 27ºC and 18ºC. Single- and double-infections in wheat caused a shift in the profile of endogenous sRNAs from 24 nt being the most predominant in healthy plants to 21 nt in infected wheat. Additionally, we report high-resolution vsiRNA maps of WSMV and TriMV in singly- and doubly-infected wheat cultivars Arapahoe and Mace at 18ºC and 27ºC. Massive amounts of 21 and 22 nt vsiRNA reads were accumulated in Arapahoe at both temperatures and in Mace at 27ºC but not at 18ºC. The plus- and minus-sense vsiRNAs were distributed throughout the genomic RNAs in Arapahoe at both temperature regimens and in Mace at 27ºC, although some regions of genomic RNAs serve as hot-spots with an excessive number of vsiRNAs. The positions of vsiRNA peaks were conserved among wheat cultivars Arapahoe and Mace, suggesting that Dicer-like enzymes of susceptible and resistant wheat cultivars are similarly accessed the genomic RNAs of WSMV and TriMV. Additionally, several cold-spot regions were found in the genomes of TriMV and WSMV with no or a few vsiRNAs, indicating that certain regions of WSMV and TriMV genomes are not accessible to Dicer-like enzymes. The high-resolution map of endogenous and vsiRNAs from wheat cultivars synergistically infected with WSMV and TriMV at two temperature regimens form a foundation for understanding the virus-host interactions, effect of synergistic interactions on host defense mechanisms, and virus resistance mechanisms in wheat.
Project description:DNA, RNA and protein were extracted from the culture and subjected to massive parallel sequencing and nano-LC-MS-MS respectively Combination of these methods enabled the reconstruction of the complete genome sequence of M oxyfera from the metagenome and identification of the functionally relevant enzymes and genes