Project description:Water shortage is a major factor that harms agriculture and ecosystems worldwide. Plants display various levels of tolerance to water deficit, but only resurrection plants can survive full desiccation of their vegetative tissues. Haberlea rhodopensis, an endemic plant of the Balkans, is one of the few resurrection plants found in Europe. We performed transcriptomic analyses of this species under slight, severe and full dehydration and recovery to investigate the dynamics of gene expression and associate them with existing physiological and metabolomics data. De novo assembly yielded a total of 142,479 unigenes with an average sequence length of 1,034 nt. Among them, 18,110 unigenes were differentially expressed. Hierarchical clustering of all differentially expressed genes resulted in seven clusters of dynamic expression patterns. The most significant expression changes, involving more than 15,000 genes, started at severe dehydration (~20% relative water content) and were partially maintained at full desiccation (<10% relative water content). More than a hundred pathways were enriched and functionally organized in a GO/pathway network at the severe dehydration stage. Transcriptomic changes in key pathways were analyzed and discussed in relation to metabolic processes, signal transduction, quality control of protein and DNA repair in this plant during dehydration and rehydration. Reprograming of the transcriptome occurs during severe dehydration, resulting in a profound alteration of metabolism toward alternative energy supply, hormone signal transduction, and prevention of DNA/protein damage under very low cellular water content, underlying the observed physiological and metabolic responses and the resurrection behavior of H. rhodopensis.
Project description:According to the systems biology approach, genomics tells what can happen, transcriptomics what appears to be happening, metabolomics what has happened and proteomics what makes it happen. Thereby, to get a better what makes resurrection plants extremely tolerant to drought, we explored changes in the resurrection proteome and cellular ultrastructure of Haberlea rhodopensis in response to desiccation. Because genomic and proteomic data concerning resurrection plants are limited, particularly for H. rhodopensis, we identified proteins based on previous transcriptomic studies. For the identified proteins, fold changes and differences in transcript levels between fresh and dry plants were analyzed; proteins significantly enriched in various biological processes and metabolic pathways were detected using metabolomic metadata. The results confirmed that the transcription of different genes is regulated as previously described at the proteomic level; new genes were identified in desiccation tolerance, posttranscriptional regulation events, and posttranslational regulation events. We revealed new evidences about organelle and cell preservation, posttranscriptional and posttranslational regulation, photosynthesis, primary metabolism, and phagocytosis in H. rhodopensis. These findings can inform further genomic and evolutionary studies, as well as targeted genetic engineering to improve drought tolerance in crops as a response to climate change.
Project description:RNA-Seq data from the resurrection plant Xerophyta schlechteri during desiccation in three tissues: non-senescent, senescent and pre-senescent during dehydration and rehydration.
Project description:Gene transcript abundances were analyzed with samples taken from hydrated, moderate dehydration (70% RWC) and desiccated (10% RWC) leaf tissues of resurrection plant species B. hygrometrica by using RNA-Seq. Totally, 9888 genes were identified as differentially expressed genes.The results provided insight for exploring the mechanisms of desiccation tolerance.
Project description:Gene transcript abundances were analyzed with samples taken from desiccated (10% RWC), rehydrated to 50% RWC (RE50% RWC) and rehydrated to 100% RWC (RE100% RWC) leaf tissues of resurrection plant species B. hygrometrica by using RNA-Seq. Totally, 10207 genes were identified as differentially expressed genes.The results provided insight for exploring the mechanisms of desiccation tolerance.
