Project description:Leucaena leucocephala seedlings were treated with PEG6000 and the shoot and root tissues were collected after 48 hours following the treatment. The gene expressions were compared between treated and untreated in root and shoot separately. The differentially expressed genes may be related to drought resistance.
Project description:Purpose: We obtained RNA-seq-based differential expression profile of Valencia sweet orange plants challenged against healthy and CLas-infected psyllid infection at 1 dpi and 5 dpi. The goals of this study are to reveal the interaction between citrus and psyllid/CaLas during the early phase of infection and understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the host-pathogen interactions and the susceptibility of most citrus varieties. Methods: leaf mRNA profiles of in vitro cultured Valencia sweet orange (VAL) budwood (WT) and of VAL fed by healthy and CLas-infected psyllid were generated by RNA-seq, in triplicate (one sample is duplicate), using Illumina HiSeq platform. The sequence reads that passed quality filters were used for gene expression and DEG detection analysis by EBseq algorithms. qRT–PCR validation was performed using SYBR Green assays Results: Using the RNA-seq data analysis workflow, we mapped about 136.80M sequence reads per sample to the reference Citrus clementina v1.0 genome and a total of 32,677 genes were detected. The average total mapping of each library was 71.98%. RNA-seq data were validated with qRT–PCR. Conclusions: Our study obtained the transcriptional profiles of citrus host by feeding of psyllid transmitting Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus at early stages of infection, with biologic replicates, generated by RNA-seq technology. The RNA-seq data analysis workflows reported here should provide a framework for comparative investigations of expression profiles. We conclude that RNA-seq based transcriptome characterization would expedite genetic network analyses and permit the dissection of complex biologic functions.
Project description:Leucaena leucocephala seedlings were treated with PEG6000 and the shoot and root tissues were collected after 48 hours following the treatment. The gene expressions were compared between treated and untreated in root and shoot separately. The differentially expressed genes may be related to drought resistance. RNA from shoot and root from treated and untreated L. leucocephala seedlings were extracted. Two biological replicates were made for each sample (each replicate represents about 10 individual seedlings).
Project description:Ticks are obligate blood feeding ectoparasites that transmit a wide variety of pathogenic organisms to their vertebrate hosts. The tick Amblyomma sculptum is vector of Rickettsia rickettsii, the causative agent of Rock Mountain spotted fever, the most lethal rickettsiosis that affects humans. It is known that the transmission of pathogens by ticks is mainly associated with the physiology of the feeding process. Pathogens that are acquired with the blood meal must first colonize the tick gut and later the salivary glands (SG). Then, to be transmitted during a subsequent blood feeding, pathogens must reach the saliva. Tick saliva contains a complex mixture of bioactive molecules with anti-clotting, anti-platelet aggregation, vasodilatory, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory properties to counteract both the host hemostasis and defense mechanisms, which besides facilitating tick feeding, may also benefits survival and establishment of pathogens in the host. In the current study, we compared the sialotranscriptome of unfed A. sculptum ticks and fed for 72 hours on rabbits using RNA-seq. The total of reads obtained were mapped in 9,560 coding sequences (CDSs) distributed in six major functional classes. Genes encoding secreted proteins, including lipocalins, mucins, protease inhibitors, glycine rich, metalloprotease, and 8.9 kDa superfamily were mostly upregulated by blood feeding. Selected genes were analyzed by RT-qPCR and all of them presented the same transcriptional profile regulation observed in RNA-seq, corroborating the transcriptional findings of this study. Finally, we mapped 116 proteins secreted in tick saliva by mass spectrometry-based proteomic analysis. Identified proteins should be functionally characterized and might be potential targets to develop vaccines for tick control and/or blocking of R. rickettsii transmission as well as pharmacological bioproducts with anti-hemostatic, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial activities.
Project description:Purpose: The tomato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli Šulc (Hemiptera: Triozidae), is a pest of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and potato (S. tuberosum) in the U.S. and vectors the disease-causing pathogen ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’. Plants undergo physiological, transcriptomic, or epigenetic changes in order to mount a stronger, faster response against secondary challenges by previously perceived threats. This is called defense ‘priming’ and it likely has an impact on vectored disease transmission. Currently, it is still unknown whether or not psyllid infestation has any lasting consequences for tomato gene expression or defense. To characterize the genes potentially involved in tomato priming against psyllids, RNA was extracted from psyllid-primed and uninfested tomato (Moneymaker) leaves three weeks after infestation. Methods: RNA was extracted and sequenced from plants three weeks after psyllid infestation. Plants were either left alone (Control or C) or infested with psyllids (Primed or J1). Libraries were developed using the TruSeq RNA Library Prep Kit v2. Sequencing was performed on the Illumina PE HiSeq 2500 v4 platform. Processed sequences were uploaded to the CyVerse Discovery Environment computational infrastructure where bioinformatic analysis was performed using the Tuxedo Suite 2 workflow. Results: Illumina HiSeq sequencing of tomato cDNA libraries produced 132,428,443 total reads that met FastQC quality control criteria. 94.6% of all reads mapped to vSL3.0 of the S. lycopersicum genome. CuffDiff2 analysis identified 310 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between control and psyllid-primed plants (q-value <0.01). Conclusions: A week-long infestation by a small number of B. cockerelli had lasting consequences for gene expression in tomato plants. Homologs of the DEGs were associated with 1) defense against abiotic and biotic stress, 2) growth and development, and 3) components of plant biology indirectly involved in plant growth and development such as homeostasis, transcription/translation, and molecular transport.