Project description:Sponge samples were analyzed on the QExactive in positive ESI mode without and with metal infusions (ca, vanadium, mg) and (fe, cu, zn).
Project description:Essential metals such as iron are required for healthy plant growth. Fe is an important cofactor and catalytic element in many biological processes. Fe and other metals can also be toxic when present in excess. Therefore plants have mechanisms of metal homeostasis which involve coordination of metal ion transporters for uptake, translocation and compartmentalisation. The NAS genes are supposed to play an important role in Fe homeostasis. They are coding for enzymes called nicotianaminesynthase (NAS), which synthesize nicotianamine (NA) by a one-step condensation reaction of three molecules S-adenosyl-methionine. NA acts as a chelator for Fe, Cu, Ni and Zn and might be involved in the transport and allocation of Fe throughout the plant. We generated quadruple T-DNA insertion mutant nas plants to investigate NA function as described in Klatte et al., 2009, Plant Physiol. The nas4x-1 plants show an interveinal leaf chlorosis when turning from vegetative to reproductive stage, which intensifies when growing under Fe deficiency conditions. nas4x-1 plants have strongly reduced NA contents and show an elevated Fe deficiency response in roots. By performing microarray experiments we want to reveal global changes on transcriptional level in roots and leaves of nas4x-1 mutant compared to wild type plants grown under Fe supply and Fe deficiency conditions, respectively. The loss of NAS genes has a strong impact on the regulation of other metal homeostasis genes and allows to draw conclusions about nicotianamine function in metal homeostasis of A.thaliana. For this study, four-week old nas4x-1 mutant and wild type plants were exposed for 7 days to plant medium with and without Fe supply. These conditions have been established previously and have resulted in a reproducibly strong interveinal leaf chlorosis of nas4x-1 plants compared to wild type, especially upon Fe deficiency conditions. The experiment was repeated three times in consecutive weeks to obtain three independent biological repetitions. Rosette leaves and roots of five week-old plants were harvested, RNA was isolated and microarray hybridization was performed. 24 Total samples were analyzed. We generated the following pairwise comparisons: WT + Fe vs. – Fe, nas4x-1 + Fe vs. – Fe, + Fe WT vs. + Fe nas4x-1, - Fe WT vs. - Fe nas4x-1, roots and leaves
Project description:Alpha-mangostin (α-MG) is a natural xanthone reported to exhibit rapid bactericidal activity against Gram-positive bacteria, and may therefore have potential clinical application in healthcare sectors. This study sought to identify the antibacterial mode of action of α-MG against Staphylococcus epidermidis RP62A through RNA-sequencing technology.
Project description:Iron (Fe) toxicity is a major challenge for plant cultivation in acidic water-logged soil environments, where lowland rice is a major staple food crop. Only few studies addressed the molecular characterization of excess Fe tolerance in rice, and these highlight different mechanisms for Fe tolerance in the studied varieties. Here, we screened 16 lowland rice varieties for excess Fe stress growth responses to identify contrasting lines, Fe-tolerant Lachit and -susceptible Hacha. Hacha and Lachit differed in their physiological and morphological responses to excess Fe, including leaf growth, leaf rolling, reactive oxygen species generation, Fe and metal contents. These responses were mirrored by differential gene expression patterns, obtained through RNA-sequencing, and corresponding GO term enrichment in tolerant versus susceptible lines. From the comparative transcriptomic profiles between Lachit and Hacha in response to excess Fe stress, individual genes of the category metal homeostasis, mainly root-expressed, may contribute to the tolerance of Lachit. 22 out of these 35 metal homeostasis genes are present in selection sweep genomic regions, in breeding signatures and/or differentiated during rice domestication. These findings will serve to design targeted Fe tolerance breeding of rice crops.
Project description:Essential metals such as iron are required for healthy plant growth. Fe is an important cofactor and catalytic element in many biological processes. Fe and other metals can also be toxic when present in excess. Therefore plants have mechanisms of metal homeostasis which involve coordination of metal ion transporters for uptake, translocation and compartmentalisation. The NAS genes are supposed to play an important role in Fe homeostasis. They are coding for enzymes called nicotianaminesynthase (NAS), which synthesize nicotianamine (NA) by a one-step condensation reaction of three molecules S-adenosyl-methionine. NA acts as a chelator for Fe, Cu, Ni and Zn and might be involved in the transport and allocation of Fe throughout the plant. We generated quadruple T-DNA insertion mutant nas plants to investigate NA function as described in Klatte et al., 2009, Plant Physiol. The nas4x-1 plants show an interveinal leaf chlorosis when turning from vegetative to reproductive stage, which intensifies when growing under Fe deficiency conditions. nas4x-1 plants have strongly reduced NA contents and show an elevated Fe deficiency response in roots. By performing microarray experiments we want to reveal global changes on transcriptional level in roots and leaves of nas4x-1 mutant compared to wild type plants grown under Fe supply and Fe deficiency conditions, respectively. The loss of NAS genes has a strong impact on the regulation of other metal homeostasis genes and allows to draw conclusions about nicotianamine function in metal homeostasis of A.thaliana.
Project description:Calcium (Ca2+) is one of the essential mineral nutrients for plant growth and development. However, the effects of long-term Ca2+ deficiency in orphan crops such as tef (Zucc.) Trotter] which accumulate high levels of Fe in the grains remained unknown. Tef is a staple crop for nearly 70 million people in East Africa, particularly Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is rich in mineral nutrients (Ca+2, Fe, Zn and Mn), vitamins and essential amino acids. In this study, tef plants were grown in hydroponic solution containing optimum (1 mM) or low (0.01 mM) Ca2+ and plant growth parameters and whole genome transcriptome were analyzed. Ca+2-deficient plants exhibited symptoms including leaf necrosis, leaf curling, and growth stunting. Ca2+ deficiency significantly decreased root and shoot Ca+2, potassium (K) and copper content in both root and shoots while it significantly increased root iron (Fe2+) content, suggesting the role of Ca2+ in the uptake and/or translocation of these minerals. Transcriptomic analysis using RNA-seq revealed that members of Ca2+ channels including the cyclic nucleotide-gated channels (CNGC) and glutamate receptor-like channels (GLRs), Ca2+-transporters, Ca2+-binding proteins (CBP) and Ca2+-dependent protein kinases (CDPK) were differentially regulated by Ca+2 treatment. Moreover, several Fe/metal transporters including members of vacuolar Fe transporters (VIT), yellow stripe-like (YSL), natural resistance-associated macrophage protein (NRAMP) and oligo-peptide transporters (OPT) were differentially regulated between shoot and root in response to Ca2+ treatment. Taken together, our findings suggest that Ca2+ deficiency affects plant growth and mineral accumulation by regulating the transcriptomes of several transporters and signaling genes.
Project description:Desulfotomaculum reducens strain MI-1 is a Gram-positive, sulfate-reducing bacterium also capable of reducing Fe(III). Metal reduction in Gram-positive bacteria is poorly understood. Here, we investigated Fe(III) reduction with lactate, a non-fermentable substrate, as the electron donor. Lactate consumption is concomitant to Fe(III) reduction, but does not support significant growth, suggesting that little energy can be conserved from this process and that it may occur fortuitously. D. reducens can reduce both soluble (Fe(III)-citrate) and insoluble (hydrous ferric oxide, HFO) Fe(III). Because physically inaccessible HFO was not reduced, we concluded that reduction requires direct contact under these experimental conditions. This implies the presence of a surface exposed reductase capable of transferring electrons from the cell to the extracellular electron acceptor. With the goal of identifying candidate Fe(III) reductases, we carried out an investigation of the surface proteome (surfaceome) of D. reducens. Cell surface exposed proteins were extracted by trypsin cell shaving or by lysozyme treatment, and analyzed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
Project description:Background: The unprecedented rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration and injudicious fertilization or heterogeneous distribution of Mg in the soil warrant further research to understand the synergistic and holistic mechanisms involved in the plant growth regulation. The objective of this work is to understand responses in plants along with interactive effect of elevated CO2 and Mg levels by comparing data on single stress with that of combined stresses. Results: This study investigated the influence of elevated CO2 (800 μL L−1) on physiological and transcriptomic profiles in Arabidopsis cultured in hydroponic media treated with 1 μM (low), 1000 μM (normal) and 10000 μM (high) Mg2+. Following 7-d treatment, elevated CO2 increased the shoot growth and chlorophyll content under both low and normal Mg supply, whereas root growth was improved exclusively under normal Mg nutrition. Notably, the effect of elevated CO2 on mineral homeostasis in both shoots and roots was less than that of Mg supply. Irrespective of CO2 treatment, high Mg increased leaf number but decreased root growth and absorption of P, K, Ca, Fe and Mn whereas low Mg increased the concentration of P, K, Ca and Fe in leaves. Elevated CO2 decreased the expression of genes related to cadmium response, cell redox homeostasis and lipid localization, but enhanced photosynthesis, signal transduction, protein phosphorylation, NBS-LRR disease resistance proteins and subsequently programmed cell death in low-Mg shoots. By comparison, elevated CO2 enhanced the response of lipid localization (mainly LTP transfer protein/protease inhibitor), endomembrane system, heme binding and cell wall modification in high-Mg roots. Some of these transcriptomic results are substantially in accordance with our physiological and/or biochemical analysis. Conclusions: Contrasting changes were found between roots and shoots with the shoot transcriptome being more severely affected by low Mg while the root transcriptome more affected by high Mg. Elevated CO2 had a greater effect on transcript response in low Mg-fed shoots as well as in high Mg-fed roots. The present findings broaden our current understanding on the interactive effect of elevated CO2 and Mg levels in the Arabidopsis, which may help to design the novel metabolic engineering strategies to cope with Mg deficiency/excess in crops under elevated CO2.
Project description:Iron (Fe) is an essential plant micronutrient, and its deficiency limits plant growth and development on alkaline soils. Under Fe deficiency, plant responses include upregulation of genes involved in Fe uptake from the soil. However, little is known about shoot responses to Fe deficiency. Using microarrays to probe gene expression in Kas-1 and Tsu-1 ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana revealed conserved rosette gene expression responses to Fe deficiency. Fe regulated genes included known metal homeostasis-related genes, and a number of genes of unknown function.
Project description:Five-week-old male mice (Mus musculus, ICR) were exposed to single As, single Fe and combined As and Fe for 90 days. A total of 40 mice were randomly assigned to control and three metal-treated groups. Nine mice were applied in every group. For control group, mice were fed with pure water. For three metal-treated groups, mice were feed with 3mg/L As, 5mg/L Fe and 3mg/L As + 5mg/L Fe, respectively. After exposure, mice were anaesthetized under isoflurane followed by exsanguination. Livers were removed, and hepatic RNA for each mouse was immediately extract. The gene expression profiles for control and three metal-treated groups were determined by the GeneChip Mouse Gene 1.0 ST arrays. Biological meanings of DEGs were analyzed by pathway analysis. DEGs were mapped to different biological pathways according to Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway database (http://www.genome.ad.jp/kegg/ pathway.html) using SBC Analysis System of Shanghai Biotechnology Corporation (http://sas.ebioservice.com/).