Project description:In plants, juvenile to adult phase transition is regulated by the sequential activity of two microRNAs: miR156 and miR172. A decline in miR156 and increase in miR172 abundance is associated with phase transition. There is very limited information on phase transition in economically important horticultural tree crops, which have a significantly long vegetative phase affecting fruit bearing. Here we profiled various molecular cues known to be involved in phase transition and flowering, including the microRNAs miR156 and miR172, in three horticultural tree crops avocado (Persea americana), mango (Mangifera indica) and macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia). We observed that miR156 expression decreases as these trees age and can potentially be used as a juvenility marker. Consistent with findings in annual plants, we also observed conserved regulation of the miR156-SPL3/4/5 regulatory module in these genetically distant tree crops, suggesting that this pathway may play a highly conserved role in vegetative identity. Meanwhile, the abundance of miR172 and its target AP2-like genes, as well as the accumulation level of SPL9 transcripts, were not related with plant age in these crops except in avocado where miR172 expression increased steadily. Finally, we demonstrate that various floral genes, including AP1 and SOC1 were upregulated in the reproductive phase and can be used as potential markers for the reproductive phase transition. Overall, this study provides an insight into the molecular associations of juvenility and phase transition in horticultural trees where crop breeding and improvement is encumbered by long juvenile phases.
Project description:Peanut is one of the most important cash crops with high quality oil, high protein content, and many other nutritional elements, and grown globally. Cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) is allotetraploid with a narrow genetic base, and its genetics and molecular mechanisms controlling the agronomic traits are poorly understood. The array SNP data was used for revaling of key candidate loci and genes associated with important agronomic traits in peanut
Project description:Different plant species within the grasses were parallel targets of domestication, giving rise to crops with distinct evolutionary histories and traits. Key traits that distinguish these species are mediated by specialized cell types. Here, we compare the transcriptomes of root cells in three grass species—Zea mays (maize), Sorghum bicolor (sorghum), and Setaria viridis (Setaria). We first show that single-cell and single-nucleus RNA-seq provide complementary readouts of cell identity in both dicots and monocots, warranting a combined analysis. Cell types were mapped across species to identify robust, orthologous marker genes. The comparative cellular analysis shows that the transcriptomes of some cell types diverged more rapidly than others—driven, in part, by recruitment of gene modules from other cell types. The data also show that a recent whole genome duplication provides a rich source of new, highly localized gene expression domains that favor fast- evolving cell types. Together, the cell-by-cell comparative analysis shows how fine-scale cellular profiling can extract conserved modules from a pan transcriptome and shed light on the evolution of cells that mediate key functions in crops.
Project description:A critical barrier for improving crops yield is the compensatory effect between seed weight (SW) and seed number (SN), which has been widely reported in several crops including Brassica napus. Despite the agronomic relevance of this issue, the molecular factors involved in the interaction between SW and SN are largely unknown in crops. In this work, we performed a detailed transcriptomic analysis of 48 seed samples obtained from two rapeseed spring genotypes subjected to different source-sink (S-S) ratios in order to modify the relationship between SW and SN under field conditions.
Project description:Plants represent the nutritional basis of virtually all life on earth and protein-rich foods from crop plants are a global megatrend essential for sustaining an increasing human population and counteracting climate change. While the genomes of crops are increasingly elucidated, little is known about crop proteomes – the entirety of proteins that execute and control nearly every aspect of life. To address this shortcoming we optimized a protocol for mapping the proteome of different crops such as Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) fruit and included four technical replicates and three biological replicates from different tomato plants to demonstrate the robustness of the workflow.
Project description:From crops to biogas-anaerobic digestion of mixed silage of cover crops and straw: The influence of manure addition and impact on microbial community structures.
Project description:The angle of rice leaf inclination is an important agronomic trait and closely related to the yield and architecture of crops. Through genetic screening, a rice gain-of-function mutant leaf inclination1, lc1, was identified . Phenotypic analysis confirmed the exaggerated leaf angels of lc1 due to the stimulated cell elongation at the collar.In this series, we compare the transcriptome of zhonghua11 and lc1 collar.
Project description:NAL1 (NARROW LEAF 1) is a breeding-valuable pleiotropic gene that affects multiple agronomic traits in rice, but the molecular mechanism is largely unclear. Here, we report that NAL1 is a serine protease and displays a novel hexameric structure whose formation is mediated by ATP-containing positively charged pocket at the N-terminal region. Moreover, we identified TOPLESS-related corepressor OsTPR2 involved in multiple growth and development processes as the substrate of NAL1. We found that NAL1 degraded OsTPR2, thus modulating the expression of downstream genes related to hormone signaling pathways, eventually achieving its pleiotropic physiological function. An elite allele NAL1A originated from wild rice could increase grain yield. Furthermore, the NAL1 homologs in different crops have a similar pleiotropic function to NAL1. Our study uncovers a NAL1-OsTPR2 regulatory module and provides gene resources for the design of high-yield crops.