Project description:Pectobacterium atrosepticum (Pba) is a gram-negative bacterium which causes blackleg and tuber soft rot on potato. To investigate the molecular processes and responses involved in Pba-host (potato) and Pba-non-host (radish) interactions, under laboratory conditions, we used total RNA-sequencing to measure the gene expression patterns from all three species. Samples from infected and non-infected plant roots were collected after fourteen days of inoculation with Pba SCRI_1039 and subjected to total RNA-sequencing on an Illumina sequencing platform.
Project description:Xylem sap of young cabbage plantlets was recovered from root pressure exudation and used as a growth medium for the vascular pathogen Xanthomonas campestris pv campestris, the causative agent of the black rot of Brassicaceae.
Project description:Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis is an important Gram-positive phytopathogenic bacteria that causes bacterial wilt and canker in tomato. The genome of the type strain, NCPPB382, has been sequenced and annotated, however comparative genomics suggests that certain regions are under- or misannotated. In order to improve the genome annotation, we have undertaken a proteogenomic study of this important pathogen. Samples were grown in culture and the proteome of the pellet and supernatant were analyzed separately using shotgun HPLC-MS/MS. These proteomics datasets were analyzed and a number of missing gene were found and a number of existing gene calls were modified.
Project description:For many potato cultivars, tuber yield is optimal at average day time temperatures in the range of 14-22 ⁰C. Further rises in ambient temperature can reduce or completely inhibit potato tuber production, with damaging consequences for both producer and consumer. In our previous work we observed that the steady-state expression level of the core circadian clock gene, TIMING OF CAB EXPRESSION 1 (TOC1), in potato tubers increased at moderately elevated temperature, whereas expression of the tuberisation signal gene StSP6A decreased along with tuber yield. In this study we investigated the potential roles of StTOC1 in linking environmental signalling and potato tuberisation. We show that transgenic lines with decreased expression of StTOC1 exhibit enhanced StSP6A transcript levels in tuberising stolons, and show changes in gene expression consistent with elevated tuber sink strength.
