Project description:In order to study the similarities and differences in embryonic development between plant-parasitic nematodes and free-living nematodes, we performed RNA-seq on embryos of three plant-parasitic nematodes at a total of 11 stages from the single-cell stage to the J1 stage
Project description:Little is known about plant pathogenic response to parasitic plants, although some parasitic plants affect crop production in certain areas. To study this, we chose Glycine max as the model host plant and investigated changes in expression patterns after parasitization by Cuscuta using microarrays.
Project description:Little is known about plant pathogenic response to parasitic plants, although some parasitic plants affect crop production in certain areas. To study this, we chose Glycine max as the model host plant and investigated changes in expression patterns after parasitization by Cuscuta using microarrays. Transcriptional change of Glycine max stem with and without Cuscuta at 2 different stages were compared
Project description:Transcriptomic changes during haustoria formation in the parasitic plant Phtheirospermum japonicum. We performed RNAseq on Phtheirospermum japonicum seedling infecting and not infecting over 5 time points during haustoria formation for the control treatment and over 3 time points for the ammonium nitrate and 6-Benzylaminipurine. We investigated the transcriptomic changes during haustoria formation and how this is affected in the transcritpome level by nitrate and cytokinin treatment.
Project description:Plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) pose major agricultural threats, yet their transcriptional regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. Deciphering these mechanisms is critical for advancing knowledge of nematode development and host interactions, and for guiding the rational design of integrated control strategies. However, the lack of reliable synchronization of nematode development within plant hosts, together with the stringent requirements of high-throughput sequencing library preparation, hinders comprehensive transcriptomic profiling across distinct developmental stages. To overcome this limitation, high-resolution, single-nematode RNA-seq data was generated for eight developmental stages of Meloidogyne incognita (from second-stage juveniles to adults) using a low-input Smart-seq2 approach. The resulting dataset comprises 75 high-quality transcriptome libraries with at least five biological replicates per stage, enabling robust and reproducible analyses.
Project description:Using rice cultivars Nipponbare, which exhibits resistance to Striga hermonthica (a root parasitic plant that causes devastating loss of yield), and IAC165, which is susceptible, we aim to identify suites of genes underlying susceptibility and resistance to S. hermonthica by profiling changes in gene expression using rice whole genome microarrays. In addition to a functional categorisation of changes in gene expression, genes that were significantly differentially regulated within regions predicted to contain Nipponbare quantitative trait loci for resistance were identified. Keywords: Infected material vs. comparable control tissue, time course
Project description:Anthropogenic nutrient inputs alter soil biodiversity; however, it remains largely unknown whether changes in soil microeukaryotes (fungi and protists) are primarily driven by direct effects, such as modifications in soil properties, or by indirect effects, such as plant diversity loss. To disentangle these mechanisms, we investigated the long-term effects (11 years) of fertilization and manipulated plant diversity (1, 2, or 4 plant species) on soil microeukaryote communities in a temperate grassland experiment using long-amplicon rRNA sequencing. Our results indicate that fertilization generally had a stronger influence on microeukaryote communities than plant species richness. Fertilization altered the community composition of fungi and protists, increased OTU richness by 20.8% and 52.7%, respectively, and shifted community dominance from fungi to protists. Regarding plant diversity, we observed an effect exclusively on the protist community. Changes were primarily explained by increased plant biomass (driven by both fertilization and plant diversity) and by higher soil phosphorus and lower soil pH levels (driven exclusively by fertilization). Regarding life strategies, we observed synergistic treatment effects: fertilization primarily enhanced fungal saprophytes (only richness), fungal animal pathogens, and protist consumers, whereas plant diversity affected phototrophic protists (reduction) and protist animal pathogens (enhancement). Notably, fertilization and plant diversity decline together led to a cumulative increase in fungal plant pathogens. In conclusion, we highlight that fertilisation alone has a significant effect on soil microeukaryotes, while the additional decline in plant diversity affects different soil groups that are not directly affected by fertilisation. This synergistic pattern indicates that fertilization can influence the entire microeukaryote community through direct and indirect mechanisms, with a cumulative enhancement on certain groups, such as plant pathogens.
Project description:The obligate parasitic plant Cuscuta campestris delivers trans-species microRNAs (miRNAs) into host plants to silence host mRNAs. Here, the genetic requirements for biogenesis, movement, and function of these miRNAs were investigated. Primary miRNA transcript accumulation precedes mature miRNA accumulation by 24 to 48 hours. Trans-species miRNAs accumulate in host tissues a short distance from the site of parasite attachment. Trans-species miRNAs require C. campestris but not host Dicer-Like 1 (DCL1) for accumulation. These miRNAs specifically avoid Argonaute (AGO) loading in C. campestris tissue where they instead accumulate as miRNA/miRNA* duplexes. After arrival and short-distance spreading in host tissues, they are loaded onto host AGO proteins including AGO1 and AGO2. This study clarifies the transcription, dicing, delivery, and function of C. campestris trans-species miRNAs. We propose that selective avoidance of self AGO-loading is a mechanism to facilitate high rates of delivery of these "export only" miRNAs to host tissues.