Project description:Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a major disease of cereal crops caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum (Fg). FHB affects the flowering heads (or spikes). This study compare the gene expression profile in wheat spikelets from the resistant winter wheat cultivar Dream inoculated with water (H2O) or Fg.
Project description:Apis mellifera workers in temperate climates display two castes; short lived summer bees that engage in nursing, hive maintenance and foraging, and long lived winter bees (diutinus bees) which remain within the hive and are essential for thermoregulation. Label free quantitative proteomic analysis was conducted on A. mellifera workers sampled in June and December to compare the proteomes of summer and winter bees. Proteomic analysis was completed on head, abdominal and venom sac samples which revealed an elevated level of protein abundance in summer bees but and a decrease in protein abundance in winter bees. Head and abdominal samples displayed an increase in cuticular proteins in summer samples whereas an increase in xenobiotic proteins was observed in winter samples. Several carbohydrate metabolism pathways which have been linked to energy production and longevity in insects were observed to be increased in abundance in winter samples in comparison to summer samples. Proteomic analysis of the venom sacs an increased abundance and expression of bee venom associated proteins in comparison to winter workers. These data provides an insight into the adaptions of A. mellifera workers in summer and winter and may aid in future treatment and disease studies on honeybee colonies.
Project description:Apis mellifera workers in temperate climates display two castes; short lived summer bees that engage in nursing, hive maintenance and foraging, and long lived winter bees (diutinus bees) which remain within the hive and are essential for thermoregulation. Label free quantitative proteomic analysis was conducted on A. mellifera workers sampled in June and December to compare the proteomes of summer and winter bees. Proteomic analysis was completed on head, abdominal and venom sac samples which revealed an elevated level of protein abundance in summer bees but and a decrease in protein abundance in winter bees. Head and abdominal samples displayed an increase in cuticular proteins in summer samples whereas an increase in xenobiotic proteins was observed in winter samples. Several carbohydrate metabolism pathways which have been linked to energy production and longevity in insects were observed to be increased in abundance in winter samples in comparison to summer samples. Proteomic analysis of the venom sacs an increased abundance and expression of bee venom associated proteins in comparison to winter workers. These data provides an insight into the adaptions of A. mellifera workers in summer and winter and may aid in future treatment and disease studies on honeybee colonies.
Project description:Rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) are freeze-resistant fish that accumulate glycerol and produce an antifreeze protein during winter. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qPCR) and subtractive hybridization studies have revealed a few genes in smelt liver to be differentially regulated in winter in comparison with the fall when water temperatures are warmer. In order to further define the suite of processes that are regulated seasonally, we undertook a large-scale analysis of gene expression by hybridization of smelt cDNA to the salmonid 16K cGRASP cDNA microarray. These microarray experiments were conducted as a focused sieving exercise, which identified informative genes for further study in the microarray samples and over a seasonal sampling series using quantitative reverse-transcription PCR.
Project description:Many terrestrial ectotherms have gone to great evolutionary lengths to adapt to long cold winters; some have even evolved the ability to tolerate the freezing of most of the water in the body. Now, however, high-elevation, and high-latitude winters are experiencing an accelerated period of warming. Specialized winter adaptations that promoted fitness in a seasonally frozen environment may soon be superfluous or even maladaptive. We ask whether winter adaptations include changes in immune functions, and whether changing winter conditions could exert disparate effects on populations of a wide-ranging terrestrial ectotherm, the wood frog (Lithobates sylvaticus). By rearing wood frogs from ancestral winter environments that vary in length and temperature in a common garden, and reciprocally crossing post-metamorphic frogs into unfrozen and frozen artificial winter conditions in the lab, we were able to decompose transcriptomic differences in ventral skin gene expression into those that were environmentally induced (responsive to temperature), genetically determined, and those that varied as an interaction between genotype and environment. We found that frogs from harsh ancestral winter environments upregulated immune processes, including cellular immunity, inflammatory processes, and adaptive immune processes, as compared to frogs from mild ancestral winter environments. Further, we saw that expression of several genes varied in an interaction between genotype and artificial winter environment, a pattern that was recapitulated at the level of hepatosomatic index (the proportion of body mass comprising liver). We suggest that just as winter climates likely served as the selective force resulting in remarkable winter adaptations such as freeze tolerance, they also induced constitutive changes in immune gene expression.
Project description:Full title: Environmental transcriptome analysis of LfeRT32a in its natural microbial community comparing the biofilm and planktonic modes of life. Extreme acidic environments are characterized among other features by the high metal content and the lack of nutrients (oligotrophy). Macroscopic biofilms and filaments usually grow on the water-air interface or under the stream attached to solid substrates (streamers). In the Tinto River (Spain), brown filaments develop under the water stream where the Gram-negative iron-oxidizing bacteria Leptospirillum ferrooxidans and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans are abundant. Both microorganisms play a critical role in bioleaching processes for industrial (biominery) and environmental applications (acid mine drainage, bioremediation). The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological differences between the free living (planktonic) and the sessile (biofilm associated) lifestyles of L. ferrooxidans as part of a natural extremely acidophilic community.
Project description:Rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) are freeze-resistant fish that accumulate glycerol and produce an antifreeze protein during winter. Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qPCR) and subtractive hybridization studies have revealed a few genes in smelt liver to be differentially regulated in winter in comparison with the fall when water temperatures are warmer. In order to further define the suite of processes that are regulated seasonally, we undertook a large-scale analysis of gene expression by hybridization of smelt cDNA to the salmonid 16K cGRASP cDNA microarray. These microarray experiments were conducted as a focused sieving exercise, which identified informative genes for further study in the microarray samples and over a seasonal sampling series using quantitative reverse-transcription PCR. Total RNA was obtained from livers of 3 male fish sampled on October 20th and aliquots were pooled to contain equimolar concentrations of each RNA preparation. Total RNA was prepared from 3 male fish on January 3rd and processed in the same manner. Fluorescently labeled cDNA preparations were made using the fall (October) and winter (January) pools and mixed before hybridization to the microarray. The cDNAs were hybridized to three separate microarrays in order to generate technical replicates. Differential expression was assessed in order to select genes for further study.