Project description:The present dataset is composed of Lotus japonicus root exudate samples under different nitrogen states: starved (no nitrogen), inorganic N (KNO3), symbiotic N (inoculation with M. loti), and inorganic/symbiotic (KNO3 + M. loti). The samples were analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (qToF MS, Bruker Compact) with electrospray ionization.
Project description:Heme is utilized as the cofactor of diverse proteins and plays critical roles in different redox reactions. The fixation active nodules of legumes are abundant with heme-containing leghemoglobin to buffer the oxygen concentration. Symbiotic rhizobia could also synthesize heme, and employ heme for efficient respiration and iron uptake regulation. However, the role and regulation of host-controlled heme production during symbiotic nitrogen fixation have not been directly investigated and experimentally proved. Here, we identified the coproporphyrinogen III oxidase plastid related 1 (CPOP1) as a key regulator of symbiotic heme synthesis enzyme in Lotus japonicus. CPOP1 is specifically highly expressed in nitrogen-fixing nodules, and knocking out CPOP1 alone causes leaf etiolation and dwarfism which could be fully recovered by the exogenous application of nitrogen source, indicating nitrogen fixation defect. The cpop1 mutant shows significantly increased nodule oxygen level and decreased nitrogen fixation activity compared to the wild type (WT). Moreover, cell division and related gene expression of bacteroids are also affected upon CPOP1 knockout. We conclude that CPOP1 is essential for the microaerophilic environment control of infected cells and the activation of rhizobial nitrogenase required for symbiotic nitrogen fixation, through host-regulated nodule heme synthesis.
Project description:Microarray transcriptomic analysis was carried out on Lotus japonicus plants grown either under purely symbiotic conditions (Mesorhizobium loti) or under non-symbiotic conditions (no inoculation and provided with NH4NO3).
Project description:Lotus japonicus is a model legume broadly used to study transcriptome regulation under different stress conditions and microorganism interaction. Understanding how this model plant respond gainst alkaline stress will certainly help to develop more tolerant cultivars in economically important Lotus species as well as in other legumes. In order to uncover the most important response mechanisms activated during alkaline stress, we explored by microarray analysis the transcriptome regulation occurring in the phenotypically contrasting ecotypes MG-20 and Gifu B-129 of L. japonicus after 21 days of alkaline stress.
Project description:Legume plants can establish symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF) with rhizobia mostly in root nodules, where rhizobia-infected cells are accompanied with uninfected cells in a mosaic pattern. Inside the mature nodules of legume, carbon and nitrogen nutrients between host plant cells and their resident bacteria are actively exchanged. To elucidate the metabolite dynamics relevant for SNF in nodules, three cell-types from nodule tissues of a model legume, Lotus japonicus, were isolated using laser microdissesction, and transcriptome analysis was done by an oligoarray with 60-mer length representing 21,495 genes. In our cell-type-specific profiling, many genes were identified as being expressed in nodules with spatial-specific manners. Among them, genes coding for metabolic enzymes were classified according to their function, and detailed data analysis figured out that secondary metabolic pathway was highly activated in nodule cortex. In particular, a number of metabolic genes for phenyl propanoid pathway were found as highly expressed genes accompanied with those encoding putative transporters of secondary metabolites. These data suggest the involvement of novel physiological function of phenylpropanoids in SNF.
Project description:To investigate the function of NAC094 in vivo, we overexpressed NAC094 in the infected cells of nodules using an L. japonicus Lb2 expression cassette. To this end, we used a GUS overexpression construct as control and analysed stably transformed plants to detect symbiotic phenotypes. Results show that overexpression of NAC094 causes premature senescence of nodules. To identify the mechanism by which NAC094 regulates nodule senescence, we performed a transcriptome profiling analysis of nodules at 3 wpi. Around 13,850 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by comparing NAC-OE with control nodules (Log2FC > 1, FDR < 0.05). Of these, 7,516 were up-regulated (NAC-OE-UP) and 6,334 were down-regulated (NAC-OE-DOWN).
Project description:Asparagine constitutes the major form of nitrogen translocated within Lotus japonicus plants. Previous work had indicated that the different genes encoding for asparagine synthetase (ASN genes) show differential patterns of expression in different organs from plants grown under either symbiotic (S) or non-symbiotic (NS) conditions. In this work we use knock out mutants deficient in LjASN1 gene, which is the most highly expressed ASN gene in NS conditions, but much less expressed under S conditions. The analysis of two different lines of LORE 1 Ljasn1 homozygous mutant plants grown in the presence complete nutrient medium (NS) or with Mesorhizobium loti (S) was comparatively examined with respect to the WT. The results obtained indicate that a much higher biomass was produced in Ljasn1 mutants grown under NS conditions compared to the WT, while little difference was observed in the mutant plants compared to the WT under S conditions. The results point out a relationship between the deficiency of the ASN1 gene and growth of L. japonicus plants mainly under NS conditions. Further metabolomic analysis revealed that Ljasn1 mutant plants are quite distinct to WT plants when grown under NS conditions, but not under S conditions, in accordance with previous results. Interestingly, asparagine level was considerably reduced in Ljasn1 mutant plants compared to the WT when plants were grown under NS but not under S conditions, thus confirming the crucial relevance of ASN1 in the asparagine levels found in the plants under NS conditions. The results from whole metabolomics analysis, together with other obtained by RNA seq analysis, indicate that ASN1 deficiency produce important changes in the C/N balance and metabolite allocation of L. japonicus plants resulting in a higher biomass content.
Project description:Lotus japonicus is a model legume broadly used to study transcriptome regulation under different stress conditions and microorganism interaction. Understanding how this model plant protects itself against pathogens will certainly help to develop more tolerant cultivars in economically important Lotus species as well as in other legumes. In order to uncover the most important defense mechanisms activated upon bacterial attack, we explored by microarray analysis the transcriptome regulation occurring in the phenotypically contrasting ecotypes MG-20 and Gifu B-129 of L. japonicus after inoculation with the non-pathogenic strain Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 pv. tomato.