Project description:Using microarray technology and a set of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) unigenes and grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) ESTs, chickpea responses to treatments with the defence signalling compounds salicylic acid (SA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), and aminocyclopropane carboxylic acid (ACC) were studied in four chickpea genotypes with ranging levels of resistance to ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) L.). The experimental system minimized environmental effects and was conducted in reference design, where samples from untreated controls acted as references against post-treatment samples. Robust data quality was achieved through the use of three biological replicates (including a dye-swap), the inclusion of negative controls, and strict selection criteria for differentially expressed genes including a fold change cut-off determined by self-to-self hybridizations, Students t test and multiple testing correction (P<0.05). Microarray observations were also validated by quantitative RT-PCR. The time-course expression patterns of 715 experimental microarray features resulted in differential expression of 425 genes in at least one condition. The A. rabiei resistant chickpea genotypes showed a more substantial range of defence-related gene induction by all treatments, indicating that they may possess stronger abilities to resist infection. Further, the involvement of SA, MeJA, and ACC signalling was identified for the regulation of some important A. rabiei responsive genes, as well as cross-talk between these pathways. This study also found evidence to suggest the involvement of A. rabiei-specific signalling mechanisms for the induction of several genes that were previously implicated in A. rabiei resistance. Overall, this study characterised the regulatory mechanisms of many chickpea genes that may be important in defence against various pathogens, as well as other cellular functions. Although the size of the microarray was limited, the results provided novel insights to the molecular control of chickpea cellular processes, which may assist the understanding of chickpea defence mechanisms and allow enhanced development of disease resistant cultivars. Keywords: time course defence-signalling teatment analysis
Project description:Using microarray technology and a set of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) unigenes, grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) ESTs and lentil (Lens culinaris Med.) resistance gene analogs, the ascochyta blight (Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) L.) resistance response was studied in four chickpea genotypes, including resistant, moderately resistant, susceptible and wild relative (Cicer echinospermum L.) genotypes. The experimental system minimized environmental effects and was conducted in reference design, where samples from mock-inoculated controls acted as references against post-inoculation samples. Robust data quality was achieved through the use of three biological replicates (including a dye-swap), the inclusion of negative controls, and strict selection criteria for differentially expressed genes including a fold change cutoff determined by self-self hybridizations, Students t test and multiple testing correction (P<0.05). Microarray observations were also validated by quantitative RT-PCR. The time-course expression patterns of 756 microarray features resulted in differential expression of 97 genes in at least one genotype at one time-point. K-means clustering grouped the genes into clusters of similar observations for each genotype, and comparisons between A. rabiei-resistant and susceptible genotypes revealed potential gene 'signatures' predictive of effective A. rabiei resistance. These genes included several pathogenesis-related proteins, SNAKIN2 antimicrobial peptide, proline-rich protein, disease resistance response protein DRRG49-C, environmental stress-inducible protein, leucine-zipper protein, polymorphic antigen membrane protein, as well as several unknown proteins. The potential involvement of these genes and their pathways of induction are discussed. This study represents the first large-scale gene expression profiling in chickpea, and future work will focus on functional validation of the genes of interest. Keywords: time course disease state analysis
Project description:Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) seeds are valued for their nutritional scores and limited information on the molecular mechanisms of chickpea fertilization and seed development is available. In the current work, comparative transcriptome analysis was performed on two different stages of chickpea ovules (pre- and post-fertilization) to identify key regulatory transcripts. Two-staged transcriptome sequencing was generated and over 208 million reads were mapped to quantify transcript abundance during fertilization events. Mapping to the reference genome showed that the majority (92.88%) of high-quality illumina reads were aligned to the chickpea genome. Reference-guided genome and transcriptome assembly yielded a total of 28,783 genes. Of these, 3399 genes were differentially expressed after the fertilization event. These involve up-regulated genes including LOC101500970, LOC101506539 and down-regulated genes LOC101493897, LOC101491695 and so on. Transcription factor families including UDP-glucuronyltransferase, NAC transcription factor, heat shock transcription factor, and auxin-responsive transcription factor were also found to be activated after fertilization. Activation of these genes and transcription factors results in the accumulation of carbohydrates and proteins by enhancing their trafficking and biosynthesis. Total 17 differentially expressed genes, were randomly selected for qRT-PCR for validation of transcriptome analysis and showed statistically significant correlations with the transcriptome data. Our findings provide insights into the regulatory mechanisms underlying changes in fertilized chickpea ovules. This work may come closer to a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that initiate developmental events in chickpea seeds.
Project description:The total RNA were extracted from pooled tissues of leaves and flowers from several plants of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) using TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Then small RNAs ranging in 18–30 nucleotides were size fractionated electrophoretically, isolated from the gel, ligated with the 5′ and 3′ RNA adapters. The ligated product was reverse transcribed and subsequently amplified using 10–12 PCR cycles. The purified PCR product was sequenced using Illumina Genome Analyzer II. The qualified reads were used to predict microRNAs and phased small interfering RNAs from chickpea. Identification of microRNAs and phased small inferfering RNAs in chickpea (Cicer arietinum) by analyzing small RNA sequencing profiles of leaves and flowers using Illumina GAII.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of chickpea genes differentially expressed in response to drought stress using high density oligonucleotide microarray