Dataset Information

Comparative transcriptome profiling of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) pollen grains during maturation and in response to acquired thermotolerance conditions

ABSTRACT: Global temperature increase poses a serious challenge for agricultural production worldwide, affecting yield in many crops including vegetable crops. While most crop plants can survive temperature increases during their vegetative growth periods, the reproduction phase is highly heat-stress (HS)-sensitive. Impaired pollen development and functioning under HS is implicated as the major cause for yield reduction. To better understand HS effect on pollen and identify pollen thermotolerance mechanisms, we established conditions that enable developing pollen grains to acquire thermotolerance (ATT conditions), using tomato as a model system. High-throughput sequencing at cDNA level was performed by Massive Analysis of 3’cDNA using Illumina HiSeq 2000 technology, generating a total of 6430 and 4660 transcripts differentially expressed (p ≤ 1e-05) during pollen development/maturation and following response of developing pollen to ATT, respectively. Gene Onthology functional analysis showed that transcripts related to maintenance of protein homeostasis (translation, proteolysis, protein folding) were enriched during pollen maturation and following the ATT treatment in our study, highlighting these processes as central for enabling pollen maturation and maintenance of pollen functioning under HS. The transcriptomic data was compared to available pollen proteomic data based on the same experimental setup and an overlap of 47% was detected between differentially expressed proteins and transcripts following ATT conditions, highlighting genes/proteins involved in protein folding, oxidation-reduction and translation, and validating transcriptomic results. Involvement of mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum in pollen heat acclimation, and activation of several HSPs including sHSPs and HSP101, for protecting pollen cellular components including the translational machinery, are indicated. The results of this study can serve as a valuable resource of genes for future research on improving pollen thermotolerance.

ORGANISM(S): Solanum lycopersicum

PROVIDER: GSE117733 | GEO | 2019/01/27

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Heat stress is a major cause for yield loss in many crops, including vegetable crops. Even short waves of high temperature, becoming more frequent during recent years, can be detrimental. Pollen development is most heat-sensitive, being the main cause for reduced productivity under heat-stress across a wide range of crops. The molecular mechanisms involved in pollen heat-stress response and thermotolerance are however not fully understood. Recently, we have demonstrated that ethylene, a gaseous plant hormone, plays a role in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) pollen thermotolerance. These results were substantiated in the current work showing that increasing ethylene levels by using an ethylene-releasing substance, ethephon, prior to heat-stress exposure, increased pollen quality. A proteomic approach was undertaken, to unravel the mechanisms underlying pollen heat-stress response and ethylene-mediated pollen thermotolerance in developing pollen grains. Proteins were extracted and analyzed by means of a gel LC-MS fractionation protocol, and a total of 1355 proteins were identified. A dataset of 721 proteins, detected in three biological replicates of at least one of the applied treatments, was used for all analyses. Quantitative analysis was performed based on peptide count. The analysis revealed that heat-stress affected the developmental program of pollen, including protein homeostasis (components of the translational and degradation machinery), carbohydrate and energy metabolism. Ethephon-pretreatment shifted the heat-stressed pollen proteome closer to the proteome under non-stressful conditions, namely, by showing higher abundance of proteins involved in protein synthesis, degradation, tricarboxylic acid cycle and RNA regulation. Furthermore, up-regulation of protective mechanisms against oxidative stress was observed following ethephon-treatment (including higher abundance of glutathione-disulfide reductase, glutaredoxin and protein disulfide isomerase). Taken together, the findings identified systemic and fundamental components of pollen thermotolerance, and serve as a valuable quantitative protein database for further research.

Dataset Information

Comparative transcriptome profiling of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) pollen grains during maturation and in response to acquired thermotolerance conditions

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