Project description:Histone modifications play an integral role in plant development, but have been poorly studied in woody plants. Investigating chromatin organization in wood-forming tissue and its role in regulating gene expression allows us to understand the mechanisms underlying cellular differentiation during xylogenesis (wood formation) and identify novel functional regions in plant genomes. However, woody tissue poses unique challenges for using high-throughput chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) techniques for studying genome-wide histone modifications in vivo. We investigated the role of the modified histone H3K4me3 (trimethylated lysine 4 of histone H3) in gene expression during the early stages of wood formation using ChIP-seq in Eucalyptus grandis, a woody biomass model. Plant chromatin fixation and isolation protocols were optimized for developing xylem tissue collected from field-grown E. grandis trees. A “nano-ChIP-seq” procedure was employed for ChIP DNA amplification. Over 9 million H3K4me3 ChIP-seq and 18 million control paired-end reads were mapped to the E. grandis reference genome for peak-calling using Model-based Analysis of ChIP-Seq. The 12,177 significant H3K4me3 peaks identified covered ~1.5% of the genome and overlapped some 9,623 protein-coding genes and 38 noncoding RNAs. H3K4me3 library coverage, peaking ~600 - 700 bp downstream of the transcription start site, was highly correlated with gene expression levels measured with RNA-seq. Overall, H3K4me3-enriched genes tended to be less tissue-specific than unenriched genes and were overrepresented for general cellular metabolism and development gene ontology terms. Relative expression of H3K4me3-enriched genes in developing secondary xylem was higher than unenriched genes, however, and highly expressed secondary cell wall-related genes were enriched for H3K4me3 as validated using ChIP-qPCR. In this first genome-wide analysis of a modified histone in a woody tissue, we developed optimized a ChIP-seq procedure suitable for field-collected samples. In developing E. grandis xylem, H3K4me3 enrichment is an indicator of active transcription, consistent with its known role in sustaining pre-initiation complex formation in yeast. The H3K4me3 ChIP-seq data from this study paves the way to understanding the chromatin landscape and epigenomic architecture of xylogenesis in plants, and complements RNA-seq evidence of gene expression for the future improvement of the E. grandis genome annotation. Examination of H3K4me3 in developing secondary xylem tissue from two clonal individuals of E. grandis growing in the field
Project description:Wood density is a foundamental quality trait for structural timber, bioenergy and pulp industries. We investigated genes differentially transcribed in radiate pine juvneile trees with distinct wood density using cDNA microarrays. Radiata pine trees were selected from a progeny trial planted at Flynn, Australia. Based on the gravitical measurement of wood cores, 12 families with highest and lowest density each were selected, representing two groups of trees with contrasting wood density. One individual with higher or lower density were further sampled in each selected family. Developing xylem tissues of selected trees were sampled in autumn (April) when latewood (LW) was formed. The xylem tissues were scraped at breast height with a sharp chisel after the bark was removed. Wood cores of the sampled trees were further measured using SilviScan 2. Total RNA extracted from ten developing xylem tissues with confirmed distinct density in each tree group were pooled into two bulks (five trees each), and the two bulks of HD were compared with two LD bulks in the microarray experiment (named the bulk experiment). Six developing xylem tissues with the most distinct density from each tree group were further chosen. Six xylem tissues with HD were individually compared with bulked six xylem tissues with LD in the second microarray experiment (named individual experiment). These two different pooling strategies can partly minimize the genetic variation among different genotypes. Dye swaps were applied in each biological replicate.
Project description:Histone modifications play an integral role in plant development, but have been poorly studied in woody plants. Investigating chromatin organization in wood-forming tissue and its role in regulating gene expression allows us to understand the mechanisms underlying cellular differentiation during xylogenesis (wood formation) and identify novel functional regions in plant genomes. However, woody tissue poses unique challenges for using high-throughput chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) techniques for studying genome-wide histone modifications in vivo. We investigated the role of the modified histone H3K4me3 (trimethylated lysine 4 of histone H3) in gene expression during the early stages of wood formation using ChIP-seq in Eucalyptus grandis, a woody biomass model. Plant chromatin fixation and isolation protocols were optimized for developing xylem tissue collected from field-grown E. grandis trees. A “nano-ChIP-seq” procedure was employed for ChIP DNA amplification. Over 9 million H3K4me3 ChIP-seq and 18 million control paired-end reads were mapped to the E. grandis reference genome for peak-calling using Model-based Analysis of ChIP-Seq. The 12,177 significant H3K4me3 peaks identified covered ~1.5% of the genome and overlapped some 9,623 protein-coding genes and 38 noncoding RNAs. H3K4me3 library coverage, peaking ~600 - 700 bp downstream of the transcription start site, was highly correlated with gene expression levels measured with RNA-seq. Overall, H3K4me3-enriched genes tended to be less tissue-specific than unenriched genes and were overrepresented for general cellular metabolism and development gene ontology terms. Relative expression of H3K4me3-enriched genes in developing secondary xylem was higher than unenriched genes, however, and highly expressed secondary cell wall-related genes were enriched for H3K4me3 as validated using ChIP-qPCR. In this first genome-wide analysis of a modified histone in a woody tissue, we developed optimized a ChIP-seq procedure suitable for field-collected samples. In developing E. grandis xylem, H3K4me3 enrichment is an indicator of active transcription, consistent with its known role in sustaining pre-initiation complex formation in yeast. The H3K4me3 ChIP-seq data from this study paves the way to understanding the chromatin landscape and epigenomic architecture of xylogenesis in plants, and complements RNA-seq evidence of gene expression for the future improvement of the E. grandis genome annotation.
Project description:In order to pinpoint the most differentially expressed genes between Eucalyptus grandis leaf blades and vascular (xylem) tissues as well as between E. grandis and Eucalyptus globulus xylem tissues, a total number of nine 50mer-oligoprobes covering the length of each one of 21,432 unique sequences derived from the Genolyptus EST dataset were synthesized “on-chip” in duplicate, randomly distributed in two blocks of each slide. Probes were also synthesized from ten cDNA sequences encoding known human proteins as negative controls, totaling 21,442 sequences. Leaves and xylem samples were taken from two E. grandis clonal trees, i.e., both derived from the same matrix tree and harboring the same genotype. Two additional xylem samples were collected from two other E. grandis clonal trees of a different genotype, as well as from two E. globulus clonal trees. Therefore, ten cDNA samples and ten identical chips were produced at Roche NimbleGen for the microarray assays, with a total number of 385,956 features per slide. Besides the discovery of differentially expressed genes between leaf and xylem, we wanted to test the validity of the assumed “technical” and “biological duplicates” since all trees were field-grown and four years-old in age.
Project description:Several xylem-associated regulatory genes have been identified that control processes associated with wood formation in poplar. Prominent among these are the NAC domain transcription factors (NACs). We evaluated the putative involvement of Populus NAC154, a co-ortholog of the Arabidopsis gene SND2, as a regulator of secondary biosynthetic processes in stem internode tissues by interrogating methanol:water extracts from control and transgenic trees. Comprehensive untargeted metabolite profiling was accomplished with a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry platform that utilized two different chromatographic supports (HILIC and reversed phase) and both positive and negative ionization modes. Evaluation of current and previous year tissues provided datasets for assessing the effects of NAC154 overexpression in wood maturation processes. Phenolic glycoside levels as well as those of oligolignols, sucrose and arginine were modulated with phenotypic and chemotypic traits exhibiting similar trends. Specifically, increased levels of arginine in the NAC154 overexpressing tissues supports a role for the transcription factor in senescence/dormancy-associated processes.
Project description:The daily cycle of night and day affects the behaviour and physiology of almost all living things. At the molecular level, many genes show daily changes in expression levels. To determine whether changes in transcript abundance occur in wood forming tissues of Eucalyptus trees we used a cDNA microarray to examine gene expression levels at roughly four hour intervals throughout the day. Experiments were performed using RNA extracted from two biological replicates - GU (Eucalyptus grandis x E. urophylla) and GC (Eucalyptus grandis x camaldulensis) trees. A loop design was used, linking six time points. A dye swap was incorporated to eliminate dye bias.
Project description:The goal of this experiment is to assess tissue preferential transcript accumulation and fold difference between two tissues that support secondary vascular growth in three spruces: Picea glauca, Picea sitchensis and Picea mariana. Tissues compared are secondary xylem (wood forming tissue located on the internal side of the cambial meristem) and phelloderm (composite sample of the phloem and phelloderm tissues located on the outer side of the cambial meristem).
Project description:In order to pinpoint the most differentially expressed genes between Eucalyptus grandis leaf blades and vascular (xylem) tissues as well as between E. grandis and Eucalyptus globulus xylem tissues, a total number of nine 50mer-oligoprobes covering the length of each one of 21,432 unique sequences derived from the Genolyptus EST dataset were synthesized “on-chip” in duplicate, randomly distributed in two blocks of each slide. Probes were also synthesized from ten cDNA sequences encoding known human proteins as negative controls, totaling 21,442 sequences. Leaves and xylem samples were taken from two E. grandis clonal trees, i.e., both derived from the same matrix tree and harboring the same genotype. Two additional xylem samples were collected from two other E. grandis clonal trees of a different genotype, as well as from two E. globulus clonal trees. Therefore, ten cDNA samples and ten identical chips were produced at Roche NimbleGen for the microarray assays, with a total number of 385,956 features per slide. Besides the discovery of differentially expressed genes between leaf and xylem, we wanted to test the validity of the assumed “technical” and “biological duplicates” since all trees were field-grown and four years-old in age. A ten chip study using total RNA recovered from mature leaf and vascular (xylem) tissues of Eucalyptus grandis and xylem from Eucalyptus globulus trees. Two clonal trees of E. grandis (E.grandis_Clone A_Ramet 1 and E.grandis_Clone A_Ramet 2), derived from a single matrix tree and therefore genomically identical, were the source of two samples of leaf RNA and two samples of xylem RNA, individually hybridized to four chips after cDNA synthesis/Cy3 labeling. Two other clonal trees of E. grandis (E.grandis_Clone B_Ramet 1 and E.grandis_Clone B_Ramet 2), derived from a different matrix tree, were the source of two additional samples of xylem RNA individually hybridized to four chips after cDNA synthesis/Cy3 labeling. Likewise, two pairs of clonal trees of E. globulus (E.globulus_Clone A_Ramet 1 and E.globulus_Clone A_Ramet 2/ E.globulus_Clone B_Ramet 1 and E.globulus_Clone B_Ramet 2), derived from two distinct matrix trees, were the source of four additional samples of xylem RNA, individually hybridized to four chips after cDNA synthesis/Cy3 labeling. Each chip measures the expression level of 21,432 genes from Eucalyptus sp. and ten human genes (negative controls) with nine 50-mer probe pairs (PM/MM) per gene in two separate blocks per chip (technical duplicate), totalizing 18 hybridization signal values per gene per chip.
Project description:The goal of this experiment is to assess tissue preferential transcript accumulation and fold difference between two tissues that support secondary vascular growth in three spruces: Picea glauca, Picea sitchensis and Picea mariana. Tissues compared are secondary xylem (wood forming tissue located on the internal side of the cambial meristem) and phelloderm (composite sample of the phloem and phelloderm tissues located on the outer side of the cambial meristem). One-color comparison of 3 spruce species in 2 tissue types: xylem and phelloderm. 20 biological repetitions per tissue for Picea glauca and 15 for Picea sitchensis and Picea mariana, for a total of 100 slides.
Project description:Wood maturation produces two distinct wood tissues: juvenile wood (JW) and mature wood (LW), which are the major cause of wood qaulity variation within a tree. We investigate transcriptome reorganization during wood maturation process in radiata pine using a newly developed 18k cDNA microarrays. Developing xylem tissues from nine sampled trees at 5- and 13-year-old each were randomly divided into three groups with three trees each. Total RNA samples extracted from three trees within a group were pooled at equal amount before using for microarray experiments. Using this pooling strategy three biological replicates were formed for each microarray experiment. Dye swap was applied in each biological replicate. Comparisons between JW and MW in spring (EW) and autumn (LW) were arranged in two separate microarray experiments: juvenile earlywood (JE) vs. mature earlywood (ME), juvenile latewood (JL) vs. mature latewood (ML)