Project description:Objectives: to characterize and to better understand differences at a protein level in embryonic and non-embryogenic tissues of embryonal masses in Douglas-fir. In Europe, Douglas-fir is a major species for reforestation with increasing demand for its wood. Harvested stems provide timber of outstanding wood quality, mechanical properties and durability. Commercial Douglas-fir plantations in France are limited by the ability to produce seed from the latest breeding developments. Somatic embryogenesis is considered a promising biotechnology for large-scale clonal propagation of forest trees, due to the high multiplication rates it can provide. Moreover, embryogenic cultures are amenable to both cryogenic storage for long-term preservation of genetic resources and genetic engineering (including genome editing) for functional characterization of genes expressed during embryogenesis. In conifers, embryogenic cultures take the form of embryonal mass made up of early differentiated cells forming immature somatic embryos that proliferate via cleavage polyembryony. In Douglas-fir embryogenic lines consisting in embryonal mass have been compared to non-embryogenic callus during their proliferation. Comparison of proteomes (free-gel proteomics) of embryonal mass vs non-embryogenic callus were performed.
Project description:Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) are pests of many forests around the world. The mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is a significant pest of western North American pine forests. The MPB is able to overcome the defences of pine trees through pheromone-assisted aggregation that results in a mass attack of host trees. These pheromones, both male and female produced, are believed to be biosynthesized in the midgut and/or fat body of these insects. We have used transcriptomics (RNA-seq) to identify transcripts differentially expressed between sexes and between tissues, with juvenile hormone III treatment, which is known to induce pheromone biosynthesis.
