Project description:Arundo donax L. is one of the most promising bioenergy crop due to its high biomass yield and low irrigation requirement. The resistance to biotic and abiotic stress causes the high invasiveness of this plant which can grow with very low management input (e.g., pesticides, fertilization, irrigation) even in marginal lands or in fields irrigated with waste or salty water. Despite its economic importance, the A. donax genomic resources are still limited. In particular, no information on its transcriptional response to salt stress is available.We report the leaf transcriptome sequencing, de novo assembly and annotation of a giant reed genotype under two levels of salt stress. The study will be useful for providing insight into the molecular mechanism underlying its extreme adaptability also offering a platform for directing future efforts towards the genetic improvement of this species.
Project description:Arundo donax L. is one of the most promising bioenergy crop due to its high biomass yield and low irrigation requirement. The resistance to biotic and abiotic stress causes the high invasiveness of this plant, which can grow with very low management input (e.g., pesticides, fertilization, irrigation) even in marginal lands or in fields irrigated with waste or salty water. We report the leaf transcriptome sequencing, de novo assembly and annotation of a giant reed G34 genotype under salt stress. This genotype shows a different transcriptomic response to salinity compared to other A. donax genotypes. This finding was unexpected considering that the genetic variability of this species is supposed to be low due to its vegetative reproductive process. This study aims to direct future efforts towards the A. donax genetic improvement.
Project description:This study reports the first water-stressed transcriptome of Arundo donax L. (giant reed), a wild species that is emerging as one of the most promising biomass/bionergy species in mediterranean climates. Synchronized cohorts of giant reads cutting grown in hydroponic culture were subjected to water stress by addition of 10% or 20% polyethylene glycol to the roots. Shoot and root amples were collected one hour after stress. Untreated controls were collected at the same time point for shoot and root.
Project description:The expected increase of sustainable energy demand has shifted the attention towards bioenergy crops. Due to their know tolerance against abiotic stress and relatively low supply request, they have been proposed as election crops to be cultivated in marginal lands without disturbing the part of lands employed for agricultural purposes. Arundo donax L. is a promising bioenergy crop whose behaviour under water and salt stress has been recently studied at transcriptomic levels. As the anthropogenic activities produced in the last years a worrying increase of cadmium contamination worldwide, the aim of our work was to decipher the global transcriptomic response of A. donax leaf and root in the perspective of its cultivation in contaminated soil. In our study, RNA-seq libraries yielded a total of 416 million clean reads and 10.4 Gb per sample. De novo assembly of clean reads resulted in 378,521 transcripts and 126,668 unigenes with N50 length of 1812 bp and 1555 bp, respectively. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 5,303 deregulated transcripts (3,206 up- and 2,097 down regulated) specifically observed in the Cd-treated roots compared to Cd-treated leaves. Among them, we identified genes related to “Protein biosynthesis”, “Phytohormone action”, “Nutrient uptake”, “Cell wall organisation”, “Polyamine metabolism”, “Reactive oxygen species metabolism” and “Ion membrane transport”. Globally, our results indicate that ethylene biosynthesis and the downstream signal cascade are strongly induced by cadmium stress. In accordance to ethylene role in the interaction with the ROS generation and scavenging machinery, the transcription of several genes (NADPH oxidase 1, superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, different glutathione S-transferases and catalase) devoted to cope the oxidative stress is strongly activated. Several small signal peptides belonging to ROTUNDIFOLIA, CLAVATA3, and C-TERMINALLY ENCODED PEPTIDE 1 (CEP) are also among the up-regulated genes in Cd-treated roots functioning as messenger molecules from root to shoot in order to communicate the stressful status to the upper part of the plants. Finally, the main finding of our work is that genes involved in cell wall remodelling and lignification are decisively up-regulated in giant reed roots this being a mechanism of cadmium avoidance adopted by giant cane and strongly supporting its cultivation in cadmium contaminated soils in a perspective to save agricultural soil for food and feed crops.
Project description:raw Arundo donax (A. donax) pieces were applied as carbon source and biofilm carriers for denitrification in a lab-scale moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) for the treatment of reverse osmosis concentrate gathered from local wastewater reuse plant.