Project description:We utilized a candidate gene approach using custom microarray constructed for our study species Drosophila montana and D. virilis to identify genes with modulated expression patterns under low temperature conditions. The flies were exposed to four different treatments (+5°C for 6 days, 0°C for 1 hour, two periods of recovery after cold stress and a control treatment). The aim of the study was to identify potential cold-responsive genes and to investigate differences in gene expression between the species. Microarray analysis revealed altogether 31 out of 219 genes on the array to show expression changes during different stages of cold stress. Among the potential stress tolerance genes detected earlier in D. melanogaster, hsr-omega was upregulated in both species during cold acclimation, expression changes in other genes being treatment- and species specific. Our microarray study clearly showed that different stages of cold response elicit changes at least in genes involved in heat shock response, circadian rhythm and metabolism. Cold- induced gene expression was investigated comparing four different treatments to the control treatment: 1) Cold acclimation: 14 days in control conditions, then 6 days at +5°C 2) Cold hardening: 20 days in control conditions, then1 hour at 0°C 3) 15-min recovery from chill coma: the 20-day-old flies were exposed to -6°C for 16 hours, after which they were let to recover for 15 minutes 4) 1-hour recovery from chill coma: the 20-day-old flies were exposed to -6°C for 16 hours, after which they were let to recover for 1 hour. In control treatment flies were kept for 20 days at 19°C. All the flies were 20-days old at the time of sample collection, and the light:dark cycle was 22 hours of light and 2 hours of dark. Because of the limited space on the array plate, the recovery samples were collected only for D. montana. All the samples were collected 5-6 hours after the lights had been turned on in the chamber and the flies were immediately immersed in liquid nitrogen, after which they were stored at -84ºC. Three pools of ten flies were collected from each treatment group.

Project description:During cold acclimation plants increase their freezing tolerance in response to low non-freezing temperatures. This is accompanied by many physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that have been extensively investigated. In addition, many cold acclimated plants become more freezing tolerant during exposure to mild, non-damaging sub-zero temperatures. There is hardly any information available about the molecular basis of this adaptation. However, Arabidopsis thaliana is among the species that acclimate to sub-zero temperatures. This makes it possible to use the molecular and genetic tools available in this species to identify components of sub-zero signal transduction and acclimation. Here, we have used microarrays and a qRT-PCR primer platform covering 1880 genes encoding transcription factors to monitor changes in gene expression in the accessions Columbia-0, Rschew and Tenela during the first three days of sub-zero acclimation at -3°C. The results indicate that gene expression during sub-zero acclimation follows a tighly controlled time-course. Especially AP2/EREBP and WRKY transcription factors may be important regulators of sub-zero acclimation, although the CBF signal transduction pathway seems to be less important during sub-zero than during cold acclimation. Globally, we estimate that approximately 5% of all Arabidopsis genes are regulated during sub-zero acclimation. Particularly photosynthesis-related genes were down-regulated and genes belonging to the functional classes of cell wall biosynthesis, hormone metabolism and RNA regulation of transcription were up-regulated. Collectively, these data provide the first global analysis of gene expression during sub-zero acclimation and allow the identification of candidate genes for forward and reverse genetic studies into the molecular mechanisms of sub-zero acclimation. We used whole genome microarrays to monitor changes in gene expression in the Arabidopsis thaliana accessions Columbia-0, Rschew and Tenela during three days of acclimation to sub-zero temperature at -3°C after cold acclimation

Project description:Intertidal zone organisms can experience transient freezing temperatures during winter low tides, but their extreme cold tolerance mechanisms are not known. Petrolisthes cinctipes is a temperate mid-high intertidal zone crab species that can experience wintertime habitat temperatures below the freezing point of seawater. We examined how cold tolerance changed during the initial phase of thermal acclimation to cold and warm temperatures, as well as the persistence of cold tolerance during long-term thermal acclimation. Thermal acclimation for as little as 6 hours at 8˚C enhanced crab tolerance during a 1h exposure to -2°C relative to crabs acclimated to 18˚C. Potential mechanisms for this enhanced tolerance were elucidated using cDNA microarrays to probe for differences in gene expression in cardiac tissue of warm and cold acclimated crabs during the first day of thermal acclimation. No changes in gene expression were detected until 12h of thermal acclimation. Genes strongly upregulated in warm acclimated crabs represented immune response and extracellular / intercellular processes, suggesting that warm acclimated crabs had a generalized stress response and may have been remodelling tissues or altering intercellular processes. Genes strongly upregulated in cold acclimated crabs included many that are involved in glucose production suggesting that cold acclimation involves increasing intracellular glucose as a cryoprotectant. Structural cytoskeletal proteins were also strongly represented among the genes upregulated in only cold acclimated crabs. There were no consistent changes in composition or the level of unsaturation of membrane phospholipid fatty acids with cold acclimation, which suggests that neither short- nor long-term changes in cold tolerance are mediated by changes in membrane fatty acid composition. Overall, our study demonstrates that initial changes in cold tolerance are likely not regulated by transcriptomic responses, but that gene expression-related changes in homeostasis begin within 12 hours – the length of a tidal cycle. all array data and raw images archived at the Porcelain Crab Array Database (http://array.sfsu.edu)

Project description:During cold acclimation plants increase their freezing tolerance in response to low non-freezing temperatures. This is accompanied by many physiological, biochemical and molecular changes that have been extensively investigated. In addition, many cold acclimated plants become more freezing tolerant during exposure to mild, non-damaging sub-zero temperatures. There is hardly any information available about the molecular basis of this adaptation. However, Arabidopsis thaliana is among the species that acclimate to sub-zero temperatures. This makes it possible to use the molecular and genetic tools available in this species to identify components of sub-zero signal transduction and acclimation. Here, we have used microarrays and a qRT-PCR primer platform covering 1880 genes encoding transcription factors to monitor changes in gene expression in the accessions Columbia-0, Rschew and Tenela during the first three days of sub-zero acclimation at -3°C. The results indicate that gene expression during sub-zero acclimation follows a tighly controlled time-course. Especially AP2/EREBP and WRKY transcription factors may be important regulators of sub-zero acclimation, although the CBF signal transduction pathway seems to be less important during sub-zero than during cold acclimation. Globally, we estimate that approximately 5% of all Arabidopsis genes are regulated during sub-zero acclimation. Particularly photosynthesis-related genes were down-regulated and genes belonging to the functional classes of cell wall biosynthesis, hormone metabolism and RNA regulation of transcription were up-regulated. Collectively, these data provide the first global analysis of gene expression during sub-zero acclimation and allow the identification of candidate genes for forward and reverse genetic studies into the molecular mechanisms of sub-zero acclimation. We used whole genome microarrays to monitor changes in gene expression in the Arabidopsis thaliana accessions Columbia-0, Rschew and Tenela during three days of acclimation to sub-zero temperature at -3°C after cold acclimation Plants from Arabidopsis thaliana accessions Columbia-0, Rschew and Tenela were cold acclimated at 4°C for two weeks. Detached leaves were then sub-zero acclimated at -3°C for 8 h, 1 d or 3 d at -3°C. Leaves of cold acclimated plants and sub-zero acclimated leaves were collected for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix ATH1 microarrays in order to explore temporal transcriptome changes during sub-zero acclimation. For each sample total RNA was isolated from a pool of three leaves from three different plants. The experiment was performed in three idenpendent biological replicates.

Project description:Intertidal zone organisms can experience transient freezing temperatures during winter low tides, but their extreme cold tolerance mechanisms are not known. Petrolisthes cinctipes is a temperate mid-high intertidal zone crab species that can experience wintertime habitat temperatures below the freezing point of seawater. We examined how cold tolerance changed during the initial phase of thermal acclimation to cold and warm temperatures, as well as the persistence of cold tolerance during long-term thermal acclimation. Thermal acclimation for as little as 6 hours at 8˚C enhanced crab tolerance during a 1h exposure to -2°C relative to crabs acclimated to 18˚C. Potential mechanisms for this enhanced tolerance were elucidated using cDNA microarrays to probe for differences in gene expression in cardiac tissue of warm and cold acclimated crabs during the first day of thermal acclimation. No changes in gene expression were detected until 12h of thermal acclimation. Genes strongly upregulated in warm acclimated crabs represented immune response and extracellular / intercellular processes, suggesting that warm acclimated crabs had a generalized stress response and may have been remodelling tissues or altering intercellular processes. Genes strongly upregulated in cold acclimated crabs included many that are involved in glucose production suggesting that cold acclimation involves increasing intracellular glucose as a cryoprotectant. Structural cytoskeletal proteins were also strongly represented among the genes upregulated in only cold acclimated crabs. There were no consistent changes in composition or the level of unsaturation of membrane phospholipid fatty acids with cold acclimation, which suggests that neither short- nor long-term changes in cold tolerance are mediated by changes in membrane fatty acid composition. Overall, our study demonstrates that initial changes in cold tolerance are likely not regulated by transcriptomic responses, but that gene expression-related changes in homeostasis begin within 12 hours – the length of a tidal cycle. all array data and raw images archived at the Porcelain Crab Array Database (http://array.sfsu.edu) n=264 specimens were divided into warm (18°C, n=96), cold (8°C, n=96), and control (13°C, n=72) acclimation groups. Crabs were sampled from the 13°C group at 0 h (the start of the experiment) and 24 h, the termination of the experiment. Crabs were sampled from the warm and cold acclimation groups at 6, 12, 18, and 24 hours following the start of thermal acclimation. At each time point, heart tissue from n=16 crabs from each group was dissected, flash frozen and stored at −80°C. A pooled total aRNA sample was prepared for each group by mixing equal quantities of total RNA from n=5 individuals in each group in order to have the same amount of biological diversity within each pooled RNA sample. For microarray hybridizations we used n=25 slides in an incomplete loop design where each sample was hybridized n=5 times, 2-3 times labelled with each Cy dye

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Transcriptome changes associated with cold acclimation in two species of the Drosophila virilis group

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