Project description:Through hierarchical clustering of transcript abundance data across a diverse set of tissues and developmental stages in maize, we have identified a number of coexpression modules which describe the transcriptional circuits of maize development.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of 4 maize varieties comparing genetic root response under control temperature conditions with genetic root response under low temperature conditions
Project description:Drought represents a major constraint on maize production worldwide. Understanding the genetic basis for natural variation in drought tolerance of maize may facilitate efforts to improve this trait in cultivated germplasm. Here, using a genome-wide association study, we show that a miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) inserted in the promoter of a NAC gene (ZmNAC111) is significantly associated with natural variation in maize drought tolerance. For maize RNA-seq analysis, pooled tissues from three, eight-day-old maize seedlings were collected from transgenic and wild-type plants, prior to or after 2-hour dehydration, to conduct the RNA-seq analysis.
Project description:Maize is one of the most important crops in the world. With the exponentially increasing population and the need for ever increased food and feed production, an increased yield of maize grain (as well as rice, wheat and other grains) will be critical. Maize grain development is understood from the perspective of morphology, hormone responses, and storage reserve accumulation. This includes various studies on gene expression during embryo development and maturation but a global study of gene expression of the embryo has not been possible until recently. Transcriptome analysis is a powerful new tool that can be used to understand the genetic basis of embryo maturation. We undertook a transcriptomic analysis of normal maturing embryos at 15, 21 and 27 days after pollination (DAP), of one elite maize germplasm line that was utilized in crosses to transgenic plants. More than 19,000 genes were analyzed by this method and the challenge was to select subsets of genes that are vitally important to embryo development and maturation for the initial analysis. We describe the changes in expression for genes relating to primary metabolic pathways, DNA synthesis, late embryogenesis proteins and embryo storage proteins, shown through transcriptome analysis and confirmed levels of transcription for some genes in the transcriptome using qRT-PCR.
Project description:Using the RL-SAGE method (Gowda et al. 2004), a maize leaf longSAGE library (cv. inbred line B73) was constructed. Leaf tissues were harvested from 4-week old B73 plants for RNA isolation. The conditions in the growth chamber were 12 h light (500 µmol photons m-2 sec-1), 20oC at night, 26oC in the day and 85% relative humidity. A total of 44,870 unique tags (17 bases +CATG) were identified from 232,948 individual tags in the maize leaf library.
Project description:Maize RNA Polymerase D1 (RPD1), the largest subunit of RNA polymerase IV (Pol IV), is required for normal plant development, repression of transposable elements (TEs), and for the regulation of specific alleles associated with TEs. Here, we define the nascent transcriptomes of rpd1 mutant and wild-type (WT) seedlings using global run-on sequencing (GRO-seq) to identify the broader targets of RPD1-based transcriptional regulation. Surprisingly, although TE-like sequences comprise >85% of the maize genome, most TEs are not transcribed at the seedling stage, even in rpd1 mutants. Profile comparisons identify the global set of genes and TEs whose transcription is altered in the absence of RPD1, in some cases in antisense orientation. These results indicate that maize Pol IV specifies Pol II-based transcriptional regulation for certain regions of the maize genome.
Project description:Maize (Zea mays L.) was hydroponically grown for 14 days and then stressed with hypoxia. Maize roots were sampled after 24 hours and analyzed by mass spectrometry.