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: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:Investigation of whole genome gene expression level changes in maize plants (standard maize line B73) in controlled conditions under continuous light. Tissues of the leaf elongation zone were sampled from plants well watered every 12 hours before and after lights on.
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:These data include RNA-seq, circRNA-seq, and small RNA-seq of transcriptome, Ribo-seq of translatome and protein protein binary interactions by recombination-based library vs. library yeast-2-hybrid throughout the lifecycle of the maize inbred line B73.
Project description:These RNA-seq samples represent ten different tissue types for the fifth version of the maize reference genome B73, sequenced by the NAM Consortium Group. These samples correspond to project ID PRJEB32225.
Project description:Papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCPs) play important roles in plant defense mechanisms. Previous work identified a set of five apoplastic PLCPs (CP1A, CP1B, CP2, XCP2 and CatB) which are crucial for the orchestration of SA-dependent defense signaling and vice versa in maize (Zea mays). One central question from these findings is which mechanism is triggered by apoplastic PLCPs to induce SA-dependent defenses. By a mass spectrometry approach we discovered a novel peptide (Zip1 = Zea mays immune signaling peptide) to be enriched in apoplastic fluid upon SA treatment. Zip1 induces PR-gene expression when applied to naїve maize leaves. Moreover, it activates apoplastic PLCPs similar as SA does, suggesting Zip1 to play an important role in SA-mediated defense signaling. In vitro studies using recombinant protein showed that CP1A and CP2, but not XCP2 and CatB, release Zip1 from its pro-peptide (PROZIP1) in vitro. Strikingly, metabolite analysis showed direct induction of SA de novo synthesis by Zip1 in maize leaves. In line with this, RNA sequencing revealed that Zip1-mediated changes in maize gene expression largely resemble SA-induced responses. Consequently, Zip1 increases maize susceptibility to the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. In summary, this study identifies the PLCP-released peptide signal Zip1, which triggers SA signaling in maize.
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.