Project description:Fusarium cereal pathogens are known to produce a diverse array of mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites which may act together to cause plant disease and adverse effects on human and animal health. To study the impact of Fusarium interactions, we chose F. graminearum and F. avenaceum, which are known to co-contaminate Canadian durum wheat samples resulting in the deposition of trichothecenes, enniatins, moniliformin, and other bioactive compounds. We are studying the interaction of a F. graminearum (3-ADON-producer) and a F. avenaceum strain (both isolated from the same wheat sample) in durum wheat spikes. To study the impact of F. avenaceum secondary metabolites on F. graminearum, we conducted transcriptomic profiling of F. graminearum grown in the presence of F. avenaceum culture filtrate extracts in vitro. A F. graminearum ABC transporter gene was strongly induced in vitro upon exposure to F. avenaceum culture filtrate.
Project description:Transcriptomes analysis of the petals from a red-flowered white clover mutant (red flowers) and its shade-treated counterpart (white flowers) grown under shaded conditions was performed using high-throughput sequencing. We obtained 121,626,564 and 130,577,944 clean reads in red-flowered mutant and treated counterpart, respectively. Of these clean reads, we respectively gained 125,350 and 99,638 unigene sequencces in two groups. As a result, a total of 157,964 unigenes were obtained with an average length of 728 bp and a median length of 1346 bp. These findings provideed insights into the expression profiles in red-flowered white clover mutant, and deepened our understanding of flower pigmentation in white clower.
Project description:Improvement of freezing tolerance of red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) would increase its persistence under cold climate. In this study, we assessed the freezing tolerance and compared the proteome composition of non-acclimated and cold-acclimated plants of two initial cultivars of red clover: Endure (E-TF0) and Christie (C-TF0) and of populations issued from these cultivars after three (TF3) and four (TF4) cycles of phenotypic recurrent selection for superior freezing tolerance. Through this approach, we wanted to identify proteins that are associated with the improvement of freezing tolerance in red clover. Recurrent selection performed indoor is an effective approach to improve the freezing tolerance of red clover. Significant improvement of freezing tolerance by recurrent selection was associated with differential accumulation of a small number of cold-regulated proteins that may play an important role in the determination of the level of freezing tolerance.
Project description:Helminth infections, such as gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) are highly prevalent in grazing-based livestock systems, compromising animal health and welfare and causing substantial economic losses. Although anthelmintics remain the primary control strategy, resistance is becoming increasingly widespread. Thus, sustainable alternatives are urgently needed to improve parasite control and support animal health. We formulated a red clover–based forage diet using the biorefinery by-product red clover pulp. In sheep infected with three common GIN species, this diet reduced fecal egg counts by ~40% (P = 0.0006) without negatively affecting feed intake or weight gain. The diet also significantly increased the abundance of Bacteroidales RF16 and Bacteroidales p-251-o5, taxa associated with short-chain fatty acid production, while reducing Methanomethylophilaceae, a family linked to methane production. Moreover, the red clover diet markedly altered the abomasal environment, and these changes were mirrored by shifts in the Haemonchus contortus gut microbiome, whereas the microbiomes of Teladorsagia circumcincta and Trichostrongylus colubriformis remained largely unaffected by diet. These findings highlight a sustainable dietary strategy to reduce GIN transmission and improve ruminant health, while also revealing distinct interactions between host and parasite-associated microbiomes that could be key to designing future control strategies.