Project description:ra15-06_oxmyc4 - atmyc4 overexpression in arabidopsis (ws) - identification of new transcription factors for lignin biosynthesis - Compare the gene transcription in the mature stem of Arabidopsis wild type (ws) and AtMYC4 overexpressors (inws background)
Project description:The Arabidopsis thaliana DRINK ME gene (bZIP30; AT2G21230) is a member of the bZIP transcription factor family. Overexpression of DKM leads to a dwarf plant phenotype and defects in meristematic and reproductive tissues. This experiment aims at identifying the differentially experessed genes between wild type (Ws-3) and 35S::DKM inflorescences (with closed buds).
Project description:We cloned and characterized a subgroup S4 R2R3 Myb transcription factor, PgMyb308-like. Overexpressing PgMyb308-like in pomegranate hairy roots. Transcriptome analysis of PgMyb308-like-overexpressing hairy roots revealed reprogramming of cell wall-related genes, while overexpression of PgMyb308-like in Arabidopsis thaliana plants uncovered its distinct role in a different genetic and metabolic background. The results suggest that PgMyb308-like activates genes in the shikimate pathway and lignin biosynthesis, but suppresses those involved in the production of HTs and flavonoids.
Project description:The increasing availability of flights on suborbital rockets creates new avenues for the study of spaceflight effects on biological systems, in particular the transitions between hypergravity and microgravity. This paper presents an initial comparison of the responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to suborbital and atmospheric parabolic flights as an important step toward characterizing these emerging suborbital platforms and their effects on biology. Transcriptomic profiling of the response of the Arabidopsis ecotype Wassilewskija (WS) to the aggregate spaceflight experiences in the Blue Origin New Shepard and Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo rockets revealed that the transcriptomic load induced by flight differed greatly between the two flights, yet was biologically related to traditional parabolic flight responses. The sku5 skewing mutant and 14-3-3κ:GFP regulatory protein overexpression lines each showed altered intra-platform responses compared to WS in the Blue Origin and parabolic flights, respectively. An additional parabolic flight using the F-104 Starfighter showed that the response of 14-3-3κ:GFP to flight was modulated in a similar manner to the WS line. Despite the differing genotypes, experimental workflows, flight profiles and platforms, alteration of gene expression remodeling central metabolic processes was commonly observed as a response to the flights. The processes included carbon and nitrogen metabolism, branched-chain amino acid degradation, and hypoxic responses. The timing and directionality of differentially-expressed genes involved in the conserved pathways differed among the platforms. The data presented herein highlight the potential for various suborbital platforms to contribute insights into biological responses to spaceflight, and further suggest that in-flight fixation during suborbital experiments will provide insights into responses to each phase of flight.
Project description:Drought is a major environmental constraint affecting physiological, biochemical and molecular changes of crops, causing loss in crop productivities. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance is important for crop biotechnology. Here, we report that the rice (Oryza sativa) homeodomain-leucine zipper class IV transcription factor gene, Rice outermost cell-specific gene 10 (Roc10), improves drought tolerance and grain yield by increasing lignin accumulation in ground tissues of rice plants. Overexpression of Roc10 significantly enhanced drought tolerance of transgenic rice plants at the vegetative stages of growth with highly effective photosystem and reduction of water loss rate as compared with non-transgenic control and RNAi plants. More importantly, Roc10 overexpression plants had higher drought tolerance at the reproductive stage of growth with higher grain yield over controls under field-drought conditions. We identified downstream and putative target genes of Roc10 by using RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data of rice shoots. Roc10 overexpression elevated the expression levels of lignin biosynthetic genes in shoots with a concomitant increase in accumulation of lignin. The overexpression and RNAi lines showed opposite patterns of lignin accumulation. The Roc10 is mainly expressed in the outer cell layers including epidermis and vasculature of shoots that coincides with areas of increased lignification. Furthermore, the Roc10 was found to directly bind to the promoter of PEROXIDASEN/PEROXIDASE38, a key gene in lignin biosynthesis. Together, our findings suggested that the Roc10 confers drought stress tolerance by enhancing lignin biosynthesis in ground tissues of rice plants.
Project description:Drought is a major environmental constraint affecting physiological, biochemical and molecular changes of crops, causing loss in crop productivities. Understanding the molecular mechanisms of drought tolerance is important for crop biotechnology. Here, we report that the rice (Oryza sativa) homeodomain-leucine zipper class IV transcription factor gene, Rice outermost cell-specific gene 10 (Roc10), improves drought tolerance and grain yield by increasing lignin accumulation in ground tissues of rice plants. Overexpression of Roc10 significantly enhanced drought tolerance of transgenic rice plants at the vegetative stages of growth with highly effective photosystem and reduction of water loss rate as compared with non-transgenic control and RNAi plants. More importantly, Roc10 overexpression plants had higher drought tolerance at the reproductive stage of growth with higher grain yield over controls under field-drought conditions. We identified downstream and putative target genes of Roc10 by using RNA-seq and ChIP-seq data of rice shoots. Roc10 overexpression elevated the expression levels of lignin biosynthetic genes in shoots with a concomitant increase in accumulation of lignin. The overexpression and RNAi lines showed opposite patterns of lignin accumulation. The Roc10 is mainly expressed in the outer cell layers including epidermis and vasculature of shoots that coincides with areas of increased lignification. Furthermore, the Roc10 was found to directly bind to the promoter of PEROXIDASEN/PEROXIDASE38, a key gene in lignin biosynthesis. Together, our findings suggested that the Roc10 confers drought stress tolerance by enhancing lignin biosynthesis in ground tissues of rice plants.
Project description:Laccases were proposed to catalyze the oxidative polymerization of monolignols. We identified 49 laccase gene models in Populus trichocarpa, of which 29 were predicted to be targets of ptr-miR397a. We overexpressed Ptr-MIR397a in transgenic P. trichocarpa. In each of all 9 transgenic lines tested, 17 PtrLACs were down-regulated as analyzed by RNA-seq. Transgenic lines with severe reduction in the expression of these laccase genes resulted in an approximately 40% decrease in the total laccase activity. Overexpression of Ptr-MIR397a in these transgenic lines also reduced lignin content, whereas levels of all monolignol biosynthetic gene transcripts remained unchanged. A hierarchical genetic regulatory network (GRN) built by a bottom-up Graphic Gaussian Model algorithm provides additional support for a role of ptr-miR397a as a negative regulator of laccases for lignin biosynthesis. Full transcriptome based differential gene expression in the overexpressed transgenics and protein domain analyses implicate previously unidentified transcription factors and their targets in an extended hierarchical GRN including ptr-miR397a and laccases that coregulate lignin biosynthesis in wood formation. Ptr-miR397a, laccases and other regulatory components of this network may provide additional strategies for genetic manipulation of lignin content. Total twelve trees were used. Those include nine individual transgenic trees for overexpressing Ptr-miR397a, as nine biological replicates, and three wild-type trees.