Project description:Background: The soil environment is responsible for sustaining most terrestrial plant life on earth, yet we know surprisingly little about the important functions carried out by diverse microbial communities in soil. Soil microbes that inhabit the channels of decaying root systems, the detritusphere, are likely to be essential for plant growth and health, as these channels are the preferred locations of new root growth. Understanding the microbial metagenome of the detritusphere and how it responds to agricultural management such as crop rotations and soil tillage will be vital for improving global food production. Methods: The rhizosphere soils of wheat and chickpea growing under + and - decaying root were collected for metagenomics sequencing. A gene catalogue was established by de novo assembling metagenomic sequencing. Genes abundance was compared between bulk soil and rhizosphere soils under different treatments. Conclusions: The study describes the diversity and functional capacity of a high-quality soil microbial metagenome. The results demonstrate the contribution of the microbiome from decaying root in determining the metagenome of developing root systems, which is fundamental to plant growth, since roots preferentially inhabit previous root channels. Modifications in root microbial function through soil management, can ultimately govern plant health, productivity and food security.
Project description:The present transcript profiling compares the gene expression during cold-acclimation in different genotypes of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and rye (Secale cereale L.) in order to determine factors influencing frost tolerance. Because of its outstanding robustness against adverse environmental conditions rye is considered to be a model species for abiotic stress tolerance. Wheat is moderate frost-tolerant and barley is most sensitive species in this study. The aim of this study elucidate conserved, as well as, species-specific gene regulation across the Triticeae. Furthermore, transcript abundances were correlated between the distinct frost tolerances of genotypes within each species in order to find candidate genes for frost tolerance.
Project description:Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) is a disease of wheat and other cereal crops, where Fusarium graminearum and related species infects the wheat inflorescence during and post-anthesis. The fungus produces trichothecene toxins that accumulate in the grain of infected head, and are required for disease spread. Microarrays were used to observe differential gene expression in the uninoculated spikelets of FHB-challenged wheat spikes in three wheat genotypes. A summary of our findings will be published in Plant Pathology.
Project description:Transcriptional profiling of three different genotypes (wheat cv Chinese Spring, and the wheat-rye addition lines 3R and 6R) comparing control and 24h exposure to 200 μM de AlCl3. The goal was to determine the effects of AlCl3 on global gene expression in each genotype and study the differences between them.
Project description:Transcriptional comparison of developing grains between two wheat genotypes with contrasting levels of minerals in grain, using Affymetrix GeneChip® Wheat Genome Array.
