Project description:Plants often face combinatorial stresses in their natural environment. Here arsenic (As) toxicity was combined with hypoxia (Hpx) in the roots of Arabidopsis thaliana as it often occurs in nature. The present work aimed to explore the effects of single and combined hypoxia and As stress applied at realistic stress levels to hydroponically grown A. thaliana. Arsenic as well as hypoxic growth conditions generate a characteristic signaling pattern, a significant part of which is mediated by ROS. The current study utilized the microarray to determine the overlapping signalling pattern and changes in gene expression for the defined stress combinaton compared to individual stresses.
Project description:The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of autotetraploidy on gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana by comparing diploid versus tetraploid transcriptomes. In particular, this included the comparison of the transcriptome of different tetraploid A. thaliana ecotypes (Col-0 vs. Ler-0). The study was extended to address further aspects. One was the comparison of the transcriptomes in subsequent generations. This intended to obtain information on the genome wide stability of autotetraploid gene expression. Another line of work compared the transcriptomes of different diploid vs. tetraploid tissues. This aimed to investigate whether particular gene groups are specifically affected during the development of A. thaliana autotetraploids. Samples 1-8: Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 tetraploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of diploid vs. tetraploid Col-0 seedlings. The experiment was carried out with pedigree of independently generated and assessed tetraploid Col-0 lines. Samples 9-12: Arabidopsis thaliana Ler-0 tetraploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of diploid vs. tetraploid Ler-0 seedlings. The experiment was carried out with pedigree of independently generated and assessed tetraploid Ler-0 lines. Samples 13-24: Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 tetraploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of diploid vs. tetraploid Col-0 leaves (6th - 8th). The experiment was carried out with pedigree of independently generated and assessed tetraploid Col-0 lines. Samples 25-32: Arabidopsis thaliana Ler-0 tetraploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of diploid vs. tetraploid Ler-0 leaves (6th - 8th). The experiment was carried out with pedigree of independently generated and assessed tetraploid Ler-0 lines. Samples 33-36: Arabidopsis thaliana Ler-0 tetraploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of tetraploid vs. tetraploid Ler-0 seedlings from the second (F2) and third (F3) generation after induction, respectively. The experiment was carried out with pedigree of independently generated and assessed tetraploid Ler-0 lines. Samples 37-40: Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 tetraploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of tetraploid vs. tetraploid Col-0 seedlings from the second (F2) and third (F3) generation after induction, respectively. The experiment was carried out with pedigree of independently generated and assessed tetraploid Col-0 lines. Samples 41-44: Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0/Ler-0 diploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of diploid Col-0 vs. diploid Ler-0 seedlings. The experiment was carried out with pedigree of esrablished lines. Samples 45-48: Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0/Ler-0 tetraploid transcriptome. Transcriptional profiling and comparison of tetraploid Col-0 vs tetraploid Ler-0 seedlings. The experiment was carried out with pedigree of independently generated and assessed tetraploid Col-0 and Ler-0 lines.
Project description:Extreme hypobaria is a novel abiotic stress that is outside the evolutionary experience of terrestrial plants. In natural environments, the practical limit of atmospheric pressure experienced by higher plants is about 50 kPa or ~.5 atmospheres; a limit that is primarily imposed by the combined stresses inherent to high altitude conditions of terrestrial mountains. However, in highly controlled chambers and within extra-terrestrial greenhouses the atmospheric pressure component can be isolated from other high altitude stresses such as temperature, desiccation, and even hypoxia. In addition, hypobaria can be carried to extremes beyond what is possible in terrestrial biomes, and explored as a single variable in the examination of plant responses to novel stress. Previous studies have shown that plants adjust to hypobaric stress by differentially expressing suites of genes in unique combinations that are not equal to the dissected components of hypobaric stress (such as hypoxia and desiccation). Here we examine the organ-specific progression of transcriptional strategies for physiological adaptation to hypobaric stress over time. An abrupt transition from a near-sea level pressure of 97 kPa to only 5 kPa is accompanied by the differential expression of hundreds of genes. However, the transcriptomic reaction to hypobaric conditions lying between these two extremes reveals complex, organ-specific responses that vary over a time course of hypobaric exposure, and that are also not linear with respect to a simple gradient of severity. It is also clear that plants adjust over time such that the gene expression patterns that are initially elicited to cope with hypobaria are mediated as plants adjust their metabolism to this environment. The patterns of genome-wide changes in gene expression across a gradient of atmospheric pressures, and over a time course of several days allows for the development of theories of how plant metabolisms may be adapting to changes in atmospheric pressures.
Project description:Extreme hypobaria is a novel abiotic stress that is outside the evolutionary experience of terrestrial plants. In natural environments, the practical limit of atmospheric pressure experienced by higher plants is about 50 kPa or ~.5 atmospheres; a limit that is primarily imposed by the combined stresses inherent to high altitude conditions of terrestrial mountains. However, in highly controlled chambers and within extra-terrestrial greenhouses the atmospheric pressure component can be isolated from other high altitude stresses such as temperature, desiccation, and even hypoxia. In addition, hypobaria can be carried to extremes beyond what is possible in terrestrial biomes, and explored as a single variable in the examination of plant responses to novel stress. Previous studies have shown that plants adjust to hypobaric stress by differentially expressing suites of genes in unique combinations that are not equal to the dissected components of hypobaric stress (such as hypoxia and desiccation). Here we examine the organ-specific progression of transcriptional strategies for physiological adaptation to hypobaric stress over time. An abrupt transition from a near-sea level pressure of 97 kPa to only 5 kPa is accompanied by the differential expression of hundreds of genes. However, the transcriptomic reaction to hypobaric conditions lying between these two extremes reveals complex, organ-specific responses that vary over a time course of hypobaric exposure, and that are also not linear with respect to a simple gradient of severity. It is also clear that plants adjust over time such that the gene expression patterns that are initially elicited to cope with hypobaria are mediated as plants adjust their metabolism to this environment. The patterns of genome-wide changes in gene expression across a gradient of atmospheric pressures, and over a time course of several days allows for the development of theories of how plant metabolisms may be adapting to changes in atmospheric pressures.
Project description:Identification of differentially expressed genes in Arabidopsis thaliana mutants in response to combined abiotic stress treatment through Microarray experiment.