Project description:Silicon (Si) has long been known to play a major physiological role in certain organisms, including some sponges and many diatoms and higher plants, leading to the recent identification of multiple proteins responsible for silicon transport in a range of algal and plant species. In mammals, despite several convincing studies suggesting that silicon is an important factor in bone development and connective tissue health, there is a critical lack of understanding in biochemical pathways that enable silicon homeostasis. Here we report the identification of a mammalian efflux silicon transporter, namely Slc34a2 (also known as NaPiIIb), which was upregulated in the kidneys of rats following chronic dietary silicon deprivation. When heterologously expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, the protein displayed marked silicon transport activity, specifically efflux, comparable to plant OsLsi2 transfected in the same fashion and independent of sodium and/or phosphate influx. This is the first evidence for a specific active transporter protein for silicon in mammals and suggests an important role for silicon in vertebrates.
2017-04-05 | GSE58404 | GEO
Project description:sequencing of phosphorus-solubilizing microorganisms targeting phoD gene in soils
Project description:Polyglutamine expansion is associated with pathogenic protein aggregation in neurodegenerative disorders. However, long polyglutamine tracts are also found in many transcription factors (TFs), such as FOXP2, a TF implicated in human speech. Here, we explore how FOXP2 and other glutamine-rich TFs avoid unscheduled assembly. Throughout interphase, DNA binding, irrespective of sequence specificity, has a solubilizing effect. During mitosis, multiple phosphorylation events promote FOXP2’s eviction from chromatin and supplant the solubilizing function of DNA. Further, human-specific amino-acid substitutions linked to the evolution of speech map to a mitotic phospho-patch, the ‘EVO patch’, and reduce the propensity of the human FOXP2 to assemble. Fusing the pathogenic form of Huntingtin to either a DNA binding domain, a phospho-mimetic variant of this ‘EVO patch’ or a negatively charged peptide is sufficient to diminish assembly formation, suggesting that hijacking mechanisms governing solubility of glutamine-rich TFs may offer new strategies for treatment of polyQ expansion diseases.
Project description:Although Cochliobolus miyabeanus is an important fungal leaf pathogen on rice plants worldwide, it is largely neglected by molecular plant phytopathologists. To shed new light on the molecular and genetic basis of the rice – C. miyabeanus interaction, we compared the transcriptome of rice leaves 12h post inoculation to uninfected leaves. Even though usable sources of resistance against brown spot disease caused by C. miyabeanus are scarce, silicon application emerges as a sustainable protection strategy. Many articles report the beneficial effect of silicon on brown spot resistance. however the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. The influence of silicon application on the transcriptome of healthy and infected rice leaves 12hpi was compared as well in an attempt to disentangle the modulation of silicon-induced brown spot resistance.
Project description:Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) have the ability to dissolve insoluble phosphate and enhance soil fertility. However, the growth and mineral phosphate solubilization of PSB could be affected by exogenous soluble phosphate and the mechanism has not been fully understood. In the present study, the growth and mineral phosphate-solubilizing characteristics of PSB strain Burkholderia multivorans WS-FJ9 were investigated at six levels of exogenous soluble phosphate (0, 0.5, 1, 5, 10 and 20 mM). The WS-FJ9 strain showed better growth at high levels of soluble phosphate. The phosphate-solubilizing activity of WS-FJ9 reduced as the soluble phosphate concentration increased, as well as the production of pyruvic acid. Transcriptome profiling of WS-FJ9 at three levels of exogenous soluble phosphate (0, 5 and 20 mM) identified 446 differentially expressed genes, among which 44 genes were continuously up-regulated when soluble phosphate concentration increased and 81 genes were continuously down-regulated. Some genes related to cell growth were continuously up-regulated which would account for the better growth of WS-FJ9 at high levels of soluble phosphate. Genes involved in glucose metabolism, including glycerate kinase, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, and sugar ABC-type transporter were continuously down-regulated which indicates that metabolic channeling of glucose towards phosphorylative pathway was negatively regulated by soluble phosphate.
Project description:T. pseudonana gene-specific arrays were used for differential gene expression. Seven hundred nine genes were differentially expressed by more than 2-fold (Bayesian t-test, p< 0.001) under at least one growth-limiting condition relative to nutrient-replete conditions. A striking result of the hierarchical cluster analysis was the identification of a common set of genes that were upregulated by both iron and silicon limitation, but no other treatment. Together, these two treatments accounted for about one fourth of all differentially expressed genes but almost two thirds of the differentially expressed novel genes, further emphasizing the distinctive aspects of silicon manipulation in diatoms. Keywords: silicon, stress response, cell wall, iron, temperature, carbon dioxide
Project description:Purpose: The goal of this study are to reveal the internal mechanism of silicon increased Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. seedlings drought-tolerance,salt-tolerance and salt-drought tolerance by RNA-Seq. Methods: mRNA profiles of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. Seedling in eight treatment: control treatment with or without silicon,salt treatment with or without silicon,drought treatment with or without silicon,salt-drought treatment with or without silicon. Each treatment group sequenced the aerial (stems, leaves, buds and all the above ground parts) and underground parts (roots and all the underground parts) respectively Results:A total of 48 samples were sequenced and 372.37GB of clean data was acquired. The clean data of every sample reached 5.96GB, and the percentage of Q30 base was 94.63% or above. Clean reads of each sample were sequentially aligned with the specified reference genome, and alignment efficiency ranged from 85.27% to 92.66%. Therefore, the transcriptome data of samples were obtained with a high correct rate and good genomic coverage.Results of sequencing analysis showed that compared with CK group, there were 1426 DEGs (771 up-regulated and 655 down-regulated), 1386 DEGs (571 up-regulated and 815 down-regulated) and 4192 DEGs (1668 up-regulated and 2524 down-regulated) in aerial part, and 1462 DEGs (730 up-regulated and 732 down-regulated), 2212 DEGs (939 up-regulated and 1273 down-regulated) and 3735 DEGs (1768 up-regulated and 1986 down-regulated) in underground part of D, S and SD group respectively. Conclusions: Our study help to better understand the underlying molecular mechanisms of silicon improve the drought-tolerance,salt-tolerance and salt-drought tolerance of G. uralensis.