Project description:Myzus persicae (green peach aphid) feeding on Arabidopsis thaliana induces a defense response, quantified as reduced aphid progeny production, in infested leaves but not in other parts of the plant. Similarly, infiltration of aphid saliva into Arabidopsis leaves causes only a local increase in aphid resistance. Further characterization of the defense-eliciting salivary components indicates that Arabidopsis recognizes a proteinaceous elicitor with a size between 3 to 10 kD. Genetic analysis using well-characterized Arabidopsis mutant shows that saliva-induced resistance against M. persicae is independent of the known defense signaling pathways involving salicylic acid, jasmonate, and ethylene. Among 78 Arabidopsis genes that were induced by aphid saliva infiltration, 52 had been identified previously as aphid-induced, but few are responsive to the well-known plant defense signaling molecules salicylic acid and jasmonate. Quantitative PCR analysis confirms expression of saliva-induced genes. In particular, expression of a set of O-methyltransferases, which may be involved in the synthesis of aphid-repellent glucosinolates, was significantly up-regulated by both M. persicae feeding and treatment with aphid saliva. However, this did not correlate with increased production of 4-methoxyindol-3-ylmethylglucosinolate, suggesting that aphid salivary components trigger an Arabidopsis defense response that is independent of this aphid-deterrent glucosinolate.
Project description:Bioinformatic prediction, deep sequencing of microRNA and expression analysis during phenotypic plasticity in the pea aphid acyrthosiphon pisum We developed high throughput Solexa sequencing and bioinformatic analyses of the genome of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum in order to identify the first miRNAs from a hemipteran insect. By combining these methods we identified 155 miRNAs including 56 conserved and 99 new miRNAs. Moreover, we investigated the regulation of these miRNAs in different alternative morphs of the pea aphid by analysing the expression of miRNAs across the switch of reproduction mode.
Project description:Soybean aphid is one of the major limiting factors for soybean production. However, the mechanism for aphid resistance in soybean is remain enigmatic, very little information is available about the different mechanisms between antibiosis and antixenosis genotypes. Here we dissected aphid infestation into three stages and used genome-wide gene expression profiling to investigate the underlying aphid-plant interaction mechanisms. Approximately 990 million raw reads in total were obtained, the high expression correlation in each genotype between infestation and non-infestation indicated that the response to aphid was controlled by a small subset of important genes. Moreover, plant response to aphid infestation was more rapid in resistant genotypes. Among the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), a total of 901 transcription factor (TF) genes categorized to 40 families were identified with distinct expression patterns, of which AP2/ERF, MYB and WRKY families were proposed to playing dominated roles. Gene expression profiling demonstrated that these genes had either similar or distinct expression patterns in genotypes. Besides, JA-responsive pathway was domination in aphid-soybean interaction compared to SA pathway, which was not involved plant response to aphid in susceptible and antixenotic genotypes but played an important role in antibiosis one. Throughout, callose were deposited in all genotypes but it was more rapidly and efficiently in antibiotic one. However, reactive oxygen species were not involved in response to aphid attack in resistant genotypes during aphid infestation. Our study helps uncover important genes associated with aphid-attack response in antibiosis and antixenotic genotypes of soybean.
Project description:The first GSSM of V. vinifera was reconstructed (MODEL2408120001). Tissue-specific models for stem, leaf, and berry of the Cabernet Sauvignon cultivar were generated from the original model, through the integration of RNA-Seq data. These models have been merged into diel multi-tissue models to study the interactions between tissues at light and dark phases.
Project description:The soybean aphid, a plant sap sucking insect, is an important soybean pest in the USA causing significant yield losses. The Rag2 gene of soybean provides resistance to soybean aphid biotypes I and II. Transcriptomic analyses were performed on near isogenic lines (NILs) with the Rag2 allele for aphid resistance or rag2 for susceptibility at the Rag2 locus. Soybeans were infested with soybean aphids and leaves were collected at 0, 4, 8, 24, and 48 hours after infestation. RNA were extracted and a high throughput RNA-seq approach was used to examine mRNA expression in Rag2 and rag2 soybean leaves. The expression of ~43,000 genes was detected in both the Rag2 and rag2 leaves. Statistical analysis identified 2361 genes significantly regulated between the resistant and susceptible lines at different times after aphid infestation. Genes found up-regulated in the Rag2 line were annotated as involved in the cell wall, secondary and hormone metabolism, as well as in stress, signaling and transcriptional responses. Genes found up-regulated in the rag2 line were annotated as involved in photosynthesis and carbon metabolism. Interestingly, mRNAs of 2 genes (unknown and mitochondrial protease) located within the Rag2 locus were expressed significantly higher in the resistant genotype. The expression of the putative NBS-LRR resistant gene present in the Rag2 locus was not different between the two soybean lines. However, another NBL-LRR gene located just at the border of the Rag2 locus was and, therefore, may be involved in the differential resistance to aphid infestation exhibited by the two NIL genotypes analyzed.