Project description:Diseases of poplar caused by the fungal pathogen Sphaerulina musiva and related species are of growing concern, particular with the increasing interest in intensive popluliculture to meet increasing energy demands. S. musiva is able to cause infection on leaves, resulting in defoliation and canker formation on stems. To gain a greater understanding of the different responses of poplar species to infection with their natural Sphaerulina species, RNA-seq was conducted on leaves of Populus deltoides, P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides infected with S. musiva, S. populicola and a new undescribed species Ston1, respectively. Progression of disease symptoms, pathogen growth and host response were detected. Through the time course of infection, different and species-specific metabolic pathways were activated. In all three species, genes associated with growth and development were down-regulated, while genes involved the phenylpropanoid, terpenoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were up-regulated. Poplar defensive genes were expressed early in P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides, but delayed in P. deltoides, which correlated with the rate of disease symptoms development. This data gives an insight into the large differences in timing and expression of genes between poplar species being attacked with their native associated Sphaerulina pathogen.
Project description:Diseases of poplar caused by the fungal pathogen Sphaerulina musiva and related species are of growing concern, particular with the increasing interest in intensive popluliculture to meet increasing energy demands. S. musiva is able to cause infection on leaves, resulting in defoliation and canker formation on stems. To gain a greater understanding of the different responses of poplar species to infection with their natural Sphaerulina species, RNA-seq was conducted on leaves of Populus deltoides, P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides infected with S. musiva, S. populicola and a new undescribed species Ston1, respectively. Progression of disease symptoms, pathogen growth and host response were detected. Through the time course of infection, different and species-specific metabolic pathways were activated. In all three species, genes associated with growth and development were down-regulated, while genes involved the phenylpropanoid, terpenoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were up-regulated. Poplar defensive genes were expressed early in P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides, but delayed in P. deltoides, which correlated with the rate of disease symptoms development. This data gives an insight into the large differences in timing and expression of genes between poplar species being attacked with their native associated Sphaerulina pathogen. RNA-seq was conducted on leaves of Populus deltoides, P. balsamifera and P. tremuloides infected with S. musiva, S. populicola and a new undescribed species Ston1, respectively.
Project description:Genetic and genomics tools to characterize host-pathogen interactions are disproportionately directed to the host because of the focus on resistance. However, understanding the genetics of pathogen virulence is equally important and has been limited by the high cost of de novo genotyping of species with limited marker data. Non-resource-prohibitive methods that overcome the limitation of genotyping are now available through genotype-by-sequencing (GBS). The use of a two-enzyme restriction-associated DNA (RAD)-GBS method adapted for Ion Torrent sequencing technology provided robust and reproducible high-density genotyping of several fungal species. A total of 5783 and 2373 unique loci, 'sequence tags', containing 16,441 and 9992 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified and characterized from natural populations of Pyrenophora teres f. maculata and Sphaerulina musiva, respectively. The data generated from the P. teres f. maculata natural population were used in association mapping analysis to map the mating-type gene to high resolution. To further validate the methodology, a biparental population of P. teres f. teres, previously used to develop a genetic map utilizing simple sequence repeat (SSR) and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers, was re-analysed using the SNP markers generated from this protocol. A robust genetic map containing 1393 SNPs on 997 sequence tags spread across 15 linkage groups with anchored reference markers was generated from the P. teres f. teres biparental population. The robust high-density markers generated using this protocol will allow positional cloning in biparental fungal populations, association mapping of natural fungal populations and population genetics studies.
Project description:Global gene expression pattern of different poplar tissue types were determined using a Nimblegen microarray based on JGI v1.1 gene models. All tissue except reproductive tissue were obtained from the same clone used for the poplar genome sequencing project (Populus trichocarpa Nisqually-1). Reproductive tissue were from wild Populus trichocarpa trees.
Project description:To identify candidate genes involved in maturation and flowering, we conducted microarray expression studies using two poplar genotypes (Populus trichocarpa x P. deltoides hybrids) represented in continuous age gradients of one to six years. We designed 70-mers for 228 poplar genes and microarray studies were carried out using the microplate-based 96-well BioGridArray platform (GeneXP Biosciences). Floral buds, vegetative buds and shoot tips were collected at different seasonal time points from juvenile and adult trees and from both basal and upper branches of mature trees. Keywords: Maturation and Flowering