Project description:Arsenic (As) bioavailability in the rice rhizosphere is influenced by many microbial interactions, particularly by metal-transforming functional groups at the root-soil interface. This study was conducted to examine As-transforming microbes and As-speciation in the rice rhizosphere compartments, in response to two different water management practices (continuous and intermittently flooded), established on fields with high to low soil-As concentration. Microbial functional gene composition in the rhizosphere and root-plaque compartments were characterized using the GeoChip 4.0 microarray. Arsenic speciation and concentrations were analyzed in the rhizosphere soil, root-plaque, porewater and grain samples. Results indicated that intermittent flooding significantly altered As-speciation in the rhizosphere, and reduced methyl-As and AsIII concentrations in the pore water, root-plaque and rice grain. Ordination and taxonomic analysis of detected gene-probes indicated that root-plaque and rhizosphere assembled significantly different metal-transforming functional groups. Taxonomic non-redundancy was evident, suggesting that As-reduction, -oxidation and -methylation processes were performed by different microbial groups. As-transformation was coupled to different biogeochemical cycling processes establishing functional non-redundancy of rice-rhizosphere microbiome in response to both rhizosphere compartmentalization and experimental treatments. This study confirmed diverse As-biotransformation at root-soil interface and provided novel insights on their responses to water management, which can be applied for mitigating As-bioavailability and accumulation in rice grains.
Project description:Malnutrition is a major underlying cause of mortality in children and women in low and middle-income countries, like Bangladesh. This is mostly due to the poor dietary diversity and where rice is the main staple food. This preliminary study has explored the potential for increased nutritional and health benefits from soaking rice in the traditional Bangladeshi style of traditional soaked rice Panta Bhat for its nutritional value and microbiome contents for possible nutritional and health benefits.
Project description:Magnaporthe oryzae (rice blast) and the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne graminicola are causing two of the most important pathogenic diseases jeopardizing rice production. Here, we show that root-knot nematode infestation on rice roots leads to important above-ground changes in plant immunity gene expression, which is correlated with significantly enhanced susceptibility to blast disease.
Project description:The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of cooked navy bean powder or rice bran consumption on the stool microbiome and metabolome of colorectal cancer survivors and healthy adults.
Project description:Rice MERISTEM ACTIVITYLESS1 (MAL1) is an RING-H2 finger domain (RFD) contained gene. To elucidate the molecular functions of MAL1 during crown root development, we generated MAL1 knock-down transgenic plants. MAL1 RNA interfering (RNAi) transgenic plants exhibited shorter crown root length and less crown root number phenotype accompanied by low cell division rate.Here we sought to find the downstream genes of OsMAL1 in rice crown root tip