Project description:Drought and salinity are two of the most severe abiotic stresses affecting agriculture worldwide and bear some similarities regarding the responses of plants to them. The first is also known as osmotic stress and shows similarities mainly with the osmotic effect, the first phase of salinity stress. Multi-Omics Integration (MOI) offers a new opportunity for the non-trivial challenge of unraveling the mechanisms behind multigenic traits, such as drought and salinity resistance. The current study carried out a comprehensive, large-scale, single-omics analysis (SOA) and MOI studies on the leaves of young oil palm plants submitted to water deprivation. After performing SOA, 1955 DE enzymes from transcriptomics analysis, 131 DE enzymes from proteomics analysis, and 269 DE metabolites underwent MOI analysis, revealing several pathways affected by this stress, with at least one DE molecule in all three omics platforms used. Moreover, the similarities and dissimilarities in the molecular response of those plants to those two abiotic stresses underwent mapping. Cysteine and methionine metabolism (map00270) was the most affected pathway in all scenarios evaluated. The correlation analysis revealed that 91.55% of those enzymes expressed under both stresses had similar qualitative profiles, corroborating the already known fact that plant responses to drought and salinity show several similarities. At last, the results shed light on some candidate genes for engineering crop species resilient to both abiotic stresses.
Project description:Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the number one source of consumed vegetable oil nowadays. It is cultivated in areas of tropical rainforest, where it meets its natural condition of high rainfall throughout the year. The palm oil industry faces criticism due to a series of practices that was considered not environmentally sustainable, and it finds itself under pressure to adopt new and innovative procedures to reverse this negative public perception. Cultivating this oilseed crop outside the rainforest zone is only possible using artificial irrigation. Close to 30% of the world's irrigated agricultural lands also face problems due to salinity stress. Consequently, the research community must consider drought and salinity together when studying to empower breeding programs in order to develop superior genotypes adapted to those potential new areas for oil palm cultivation. Multi-Omics Integration (MOI) offers a new window of opportunity for the non-trivial challenge of unraveling the mechanisms behind multigenic traits, such as drought and salinity tolerance. The current study carried out a comprehensive, large-scale, single-omics analysis (SOA), and MOI study on the leaves of young oil palm plants submitted to very high salinity stress. Taken together, a total of 1239 proteins were positively regulated, and 1660 were negatively regulated in transcriptomics and proteomics analyses. Meanwhile, the metabolomics analysis revealed 37 metabolites that were upregulated and 92 that were downregulated. After performing SOA, 436 differentially expressed (DE) full-length transcripts, 74 DE proteins, and 19 DE metabolites underwent MOI analysis, revealing several pathways affected by this stress, with at least one DE molecule in all three omics platforms used. The Cysteine and methionine metabolism (map00270) and Glycolysis/Gluconeogenesis (map00010) pathways were the most affected ones, each one with 20 DE molecules.
Project description:BackgroundHeat treatment is widely used to break dormancy for seed germination and phytohormones could be deeply involved. However, effect of heat treatment on phytohormone related genes/proteins/metabolites and possible relationship with dormancy release remains unclear in oil palm. In this study, oil palm seeds were heat-treated at 39 °C for 60 days according to the method for commercial production. The embryos of seeds during heat treatment (0 d, 15 d, 30 d, 45 d and 60 d) and of germinated seeds (70 d and 75 d) were selected to discover the mechanisms involved in oil palm seed germination. RNA-seq and iTRAQ were applied to investigate DEGs and DEPs related to seed germination; qPCR and western blot were used as validation accordingly; endogenous phytohormones were determined by LC-MS/MS and exogenous phytohormones were also applied to validate their effects on seed germination.ResultsRNA-seq results showed that plant hormone signal transduction was one of the most important pathways and eight phytohormones involved, while six of them (ABA, GA, ET, CTK, IAA and JA) were also identified by iTRAQ. Both RNA-seq and iTRAQ results showed that the expression of ABA decreased after heat treatment, which was further validated by qPCR and western blot. Furthermore, changes in endogenous phytohormones showed that ABA decreased rapidly to about 9% of the control at 30 d and then stayed at very low levels until germination; GA and CTK increased while IAA was not affected by heat treatment. Besides, exogenous ABA treatments (10, 100, 1000 mg/L) showed that the germination rate decreased to 63, 42 and 16% of the control, respectively, suggesting that ABA suppress seed germination and the inhibition effect increase with higher concentration; while the germination rates of exogenous GA and IAA treatments barely changed among different concentrations.ConclusionsPhytohormones are deeply involved in oil palm seed germination and ABA acts as an inhibitor. Heat treatment can eliminate endogenous ABA and break dormancy, while GA and CTK may also involve in dormancy release. At least 30 days of heat treatment might be necessary. This study provided informative perspectives on oil palm seed germination, which could be also applicable in other palm species.
Project description:Antiretroviral therapy (ART) induces persistent suppression of HIV-1 replication and gradual recovery of T-cell counts, and consequently, morbidity and mortality from HIV-related illnesses have been significantly reduced. However, in approximately 30% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) on ART, CD4+ T-cell counts fail to normalize despite ART and complete suppression of HIV viral load, resulting in severe immune dysfunction, which may represent an increased risk of clinical progression to AIDS and non-AIDS events as well as increased mortality. These patients are referred to as "immune inadequate responders", "immunodiscordant responders" or "immune nonresponders (INR)". The molecular mechanisms underlying poor CD4+ T-cell recovery are still unclear. In this sense, the use of omics sciences has shed light on possible factors involved in the activity and metabolic dysregulation of immune cells during the failure of CD4+ T-cell recovery in INR. Moreover, identification of key molecules by omics approaches allows for the proposal of potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets to improve CD4+ T-cell recovery and the quality of life of these patients. Hence, this review aimed to summarize the information obtained through different omics concerning the molecular factors and pathways associated with the INR phenotype to better understand the complexity of this immunological status in HIV infection.
Project description:Green soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merrill) is a highly nutritious food that is a good source of protein and fiber. However, it is sensitive to low temperatures during the growing season, and enhancing cold tolerance has become a research hotspot for breeding improvement. Background/Objectives: The underlying molecular mechanisms of cold tolerance in green soybean are not well understood. Methods: Here, a comprehensive analysis of transcriptome and metabolome was performed on a cold-tolerant cultivar treated at 10 °C for 24 h. Results: Compared to control groups, we identified 17,011 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 129 differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs). The DEGs and DEMs were further subjected to KEGG functional analysis. Finally, 11 metabolites (such as sucrose, lactose, melibiose, and dehydroascorbate) and 17 genes (such as GOLS, GLA, UGDH, and ALDH) were selected as candidates associated with cold tolerance. Notably, the identified metabolites and genes were enriched in two common pathways: 'galactose metabolism' and 'ascorbate and aldarate metabolism'. Conclusions: The findings suggest that green soybean modulates the galactose metabolism and ascorbate and aldarate metabolism pathways to cope with cold stress. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex molecular mechanisms enabling green soybeans to better avoid low-temperature damage.
Project description:To determine the mechanisms of fleshy fruit abscission of the monocot oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) compared with other abscission systems, we performed multi-scale comparative transcriptome analyses on fruit targeting the developing primary AZ and adjacent tissues. Combining between-tissue developmental comparisons with exogenous ethylene treatments, and naturally occurring abscission in the field, RNAseq analysis revealed a robust core set of 168 genes with differentially regulated expression, spatially associated with the ripe fruit AZ, and temporally restricted to the abscission timing. The expression of a set of candidate genes was validated by qRT-PCR in the fruit AZ of a natural oil palm variant with blocked fruit abscission, which provides evidence for their functions during abscission. Our results substantiate the conservation of gene function between dicot dry fruit dehiscence and monocot fleshy fruit abscission. The study also revealed major metabolic transitions occur in the AZ during abscission, including key senescence marker genes and transcriptional regulators, in addition to genes involved in nutrient recycling and reallocation, alternative routes for energy supply and adaptation to oxidative stress. The study provides the first reference transcriptome of a monocot fleshy fruit abscission zone and provides insight into the mechanisms underlying abscission by identifying key genes with functional roles and processes, including metabolic transitions, cell wall modifications, signalling, stress adaptations and transcriptional regulation, that occur during ripe fruit abscission of the monocot oil palm. The transcriptome data comprises an original reference and resource useful towards understanding the evolutionary basis of this fundamental plant process.