Project description:16HBE cells were incubated for 3 or 6h with a homeopathic preparation of Drosera r. or the solvent control and the transcriptome was analyzed by RNA sequencing. The expression changes of the main statistically significant genes were validated through follow-up experiments using RT-qPCR. Compared with the control solution, Drosera r. changed the expression of dozens of genes already after 3h and this effect was amplified after 6 hours of treatment. The main target genes were some ligands of epithelial growth factor receptor (EREG, AREG, EPGN), genes involved in xenobiotic detoxification (CYP1B1, TIPARP) and chemokines. The network of the main biological functions included epithelial cell proliferation, regulation of angiogenesis, cell chemotaxis, and wound healing. Drosera r. acts on a complex and faceted set of genes, potentially involved in different layers of the bronchial mucosa. The global effect of the plant in 16HBE epithelial cells is a mild stress response that primes the epithelial reparative process and recruits the innate cell defense.
Project description:Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a prominent role in signal transduction and cellular homeostasis in plants. However, imbalances between generation and elimination of ROS can give rise to oxidative stress in growing cells. Because ROS are important to cell growth, ROS modulation could be responsive to natural or human-mediated selection pressure in plants. To study the evolution of oxidative stress related genes in a single plant cell, we conducted comparative expression profiling analyses of the elongated seed trichomes (‘‘fibers’’) of cotton (Gossypium), using a phylogenetic approach. We measured expression changes during diploid progenitor species divergence, allopolyploid formation and parallel domestication of diploid and allopolyploid species, using a microarray platform that interrogates 42,429 unigenes. The distribution of differentially expressed genes in progenitor diploid species revealed significant up-regulation of ROS scavenging and potential signaling processes in domesticated G. arboreum. Similarly, in two independently domesticated allopolyploid species (G. barbadense and G. hirsutum) antioxidant genes were substantially up-regulated in comparison to antecedent wild forms. In contrast, analyses of three wild allopolyploid species indicate that genomic merger and ancient allopolyploid formation had no significant influences on regulation of ROS related genes. Remarkably, many of the ROS-related processes diagnosed as possible targets of selection were shared among diploid and allopolyploid cultigens, but involved different sets of antioxidant genes. Our data suggests that parallel human selection for enhanced fiber growth in several geographically widely dispersed species of domesticated cotton resulted in similar and overlapping metabolic transformations of the manner in which cellular redox levels have become modulated. We measured expression changes during diploid progenitor species divergence, allopolyploid formation and parallel domestication of diploid and allopolyploid species, using a microarray platform that interrogates 42,429 unigenes. The distribution of differentially expressed genes was studied for domesticated G. arboreum and two independently domesticated allopolyploid species (G. barbadense and G. hirsutum). These were compared to three wild allopolyploid species. Three biological replicates were performed.
Project description:Evolution and adaptation of living organisms are results of permanent fights against diverse threats, which imply specific responses from the genome itself. Allopolyploidy, combining interspecific hybridization with whole genome duplication, is recognised as an important evolutionary force in plants. Its evolutionary success can be related to the rapid and profound genome reorganizations generated in response to the “Genome Shock” that allow the neo-allopolyploid to adapt efficiently to new environments. While work has focused on the structural and functional consequences of allopolyploidy, studies dedicated to the response of the neo-allopolyploid genome at the level of the functional regulation of genome expression have been rarely conducted. Recently, the hypothesis of a major role for small non coding RNAs (sRNAs) in mediating the immediate functional response of neo-allopolyploid genomes has progressively emerged. Here, we characterize the global response of sRNAs to allopolyploidy in Brassica, using three independent resynthesized B. napus allotetraploids surveyed at two different generations in comparison with their diploid progenitors, by high-throughput sequencing of sRNAs. Our evidence suggests an immediate but transient response of specific sRNA populations, targeting non-coding components of the genome. We identify the early accumulation of both 21- and 24-nt sRNAs involved in the regulation of the same targets, supporting a PTGS-to-TGS shift at the first stages of the neo-allopolyploid formation. We propose that sRNAs are early mobilized in response to allopolyploidy to control the unexpected transcriptional reactivation of various non-coding elements thus, playing the role of guardians of genome integrity during the first steps of neo-allopolyploid formation.
Project description:Background: Polyploidy has long been recognized as an important mechanism in eukaryotes evolution. Recent studies have documented dynamic changes in plant polyploid gene expression, which reflects genomic and functional plasticity of duplicate genes and genomes in plants. Genomewide approaches in a variety of allopolyploids, mostly synthetics, reveal a trend of non-additive gene expression. The aim of the study was to document expression divergence between a relatively recently formed natural allopolyploid (Coffea arabica) and its ancestral parents (Coffea canephora and Coffea eugenioides) and to verify if the divergence was ‘environment-dependent’.Results: Employing a microarray platform designed against 15,522 unigenes, we assayed gene expression levels in allopolyploid and its two parental diploids. For each gene, we determined expression variation levels between the three species grown under two sets of temperature conditions (26-22°C/30-26°C). More than 35% of genes were differentially expressed in each comparison at both temperatures, except for ‘allopolyploid versus Canephora’ at the ‘hottest’ temperature where an unexpected low gene expression divergence (<9%) were observed. Genes were binned in categories: ‘no change’, ‘additivity’, ‘transgressive’ and ‘dominance’ (‘Canephora-like’ and ‘Eugenioides-like’). The totally new phenomenon revealed by our study was a drastic modification of proportions between the allopolyploid and its parents when environmental conditions were modified. At the ‘hottest’ temperature, we found a virtual disappearance of gene categories classed as ‘transgressive’, ‘Eugenioides-like dominance’ or ‘additivity’ and a major increase in genes classed in the ‘Canephora-like dominance’ category. At this set of growing conditions, we therefore found very high bias that suggested a phenomenon of ‘dominance’ of C. canephora transcription profile. The Canephora genome parental expression state seems exhibited in strong preference to the Eugenioides genome parental state. Conclusion: Our data constitute evidence for a transcription profile divergence between allopolyploid and its parental species, massively affected by environmental conditions. The parental origin of the transcription profiles was not consistently biased towards one parental species, but appeared to be affected by environmental conditions. This phenomenon indicates the plasticity of allopolyploids and might ultimately explain better adaptation to environmental conditions.
Project description:Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a prominent role in signal transduction and cellular homeostasis in plants. However, imbalances between generation and elimination of ROS can give rise to oxidative stress in growing cells. Because ROS are important to cell growth, ROS modulation could be responsive to natural or human-mediated selection pressure in plants. To study the evolution of oxidative stress related genes in a single plant cell, we conducted comparative expression profiling analyses of the elongated seed trichomes (‘‘fibers’’) of cotton (Gossypium), using a phylogenetic approach. We measured expression changes during diploid progenitor species divergence, allopolyploid formation and parallel domestication of diploid and allopolyploid species, using a microarray platform that interrogates 42,429 unigenes. The distribution of differentially expressed genes in progenitor diploid species revealed significant up-regulation of ROS scavenging and potential signaling processes in domesticated G. arboreum. Similarly, in two independently domesticated allopolyploid species (G. barbadense and G. hirsutum) antioxidant genes were substantially up-regulated in comparison to antecedent wild forms. In contrast, analyses of three wild allopolyploid species indicate that genomic merger and ancient allopolyploid formation had no significant influences on regulation of ROS related genes. Remarkably, many of the ROS-related processes diagnosed as possible targets of selection were shared among diploid and allopolyploid cultigens, but involved different sets of antioxidant genes. Our data suggests that parallel human selection for enhanced fiber growth in several geographically widely dispersed species of domesticated cotton resulted in similar and overlapping metabolic transformations of the manner in which cellular redox levels have become modulated.
Project description:Streptococcus suis is an important zoonotic pathogen that can cause meningitis and sepsis in both pigs and humans. In this study,we evaluated the genetic difference of 40 Streptococcus suis strains belonging to various sequence types by comparative genomic hybridization to identify genes associated with the variation in pathogenicity using NimbleGen’s tilling microarray platform. Application of Comparative Phylogenomics to Identify Genetic Differences Relating to Pathogenicity of Streptococcus suis