Project description:The development of viroid-elimination technology is an important means to ensure the production of tomatoes. Viroid is an obligate pathogen that can infect the apical meristem cells. The combination of low-temperature therapy and meristem culture is a commonly used method for viroid eradication, but tomatoes cannot withstand long-term low-temperature treatment. This study identified a new HSVd genotype and measured the growth and physiological parameters of diseased tomato “Alisa Craig”. Five HSVd-targeting ds-sRNAs were synthesized to match different regions of the HSVd genome, and their permeability in plants was tested. By screening the types of ds-sRNA and processing duration, the optimal treatment for inhibiting HSVd in diseased tomato shoot terminal was obtained. miRNAs produced by HSVd genome were detected by using miRNA-seq and degradation-seq to verify the occurrence of the ds-sRNA induced HSVd gene silencing. Exogenous ds-sRNA can penetrate all cells including vascular bundles, thin-walled cells, and stem apical meristematic tissues and induced HSVd gene silencing in shoot terminals, leading to the accumulation of miRNAs produced by HSVd in plants.
Project description:The development of viroid-elimination technology is an important means to ensure the production of tomatoes. Viroid is an obligate pathogen that can infect the apical meristem cells. The combination of low-temperature therapy and meristem culture is a commonly used method for viroid eradication, but tomatoes cannot withstand long-term low-temperature treatment. This study identified a new HSVd genotype and measured the growth and physiological parameters of diseased tomato “Alisa Craig”. Five HSVd-targeting ds-sRNAs were synthesized to match different regions of the HSVd genome, and their permeability in plants was tested. By screening the types of ds-sRNA and processing duration, the optimal treatment for inhibiting HSVd in diseased tomato shoot terminal was obtained. miRNAs produced by HSVd genome were detected by using miRNA-seq and degradation-seq to verify the occurrence of the ds-sRNA induced HSVd gene silencing. Exogenous ds-sRNA can penetrate all cells including vascular bundles, thin-walled cells, and stem apical meristematic tissues and induced HSVd gene silencing in shoot terminals, leading to the accumulation of miRNAs produced by HSVd in plants.
Project description:Melatonin plays a potential role in multiple plant developmental processes and stress response. However, there are no reports regarding exogenous melatonin promoting rice seed germination under salinity and nor about the underlying molecular mechanisms at genome-wide. Here, we revealed that exogenous application of melatonin conferred roles in promoting rice seed germination under salinity. The putative molecular mechanisms of exogenous melatonin in promoting rice seed germination under high salinity were further investigated through metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses. The results state clearly that the phytohormone contents were reprogrammed, the activities of SOD, CAT, POD were enhanced, and the total antioxidant capacity was activated under salinity by exogenous melatonin. Additionally, melatonin-pre-treated seeds exhibited higher concentrations of glycosides than non-treated seeds under salinity. Furthermore, exogenous melatonin alleviated the accumulation of fatty acids induced by salinity. Genome-wide transcriptomic profiling identified 7160 transcripts that were differentially expressed in NaCl, MT100 and control. Pathway and GO term enrichment analysis revealed that genes involved in the response to oxidative stress, hormone metabolism, heme building, mitochondrion, tricarboxylic acid transformation were altered after melatonin pre-treatment under salinity. This study provides the first evidence of the protective roles of exogenous melatonin in increasing rice seed germination under salt stress, mainly via activation of antioxidants and modulation of metabolic homeostasis.
Project description:Background: Melatonin is considered to be a polyfunctional master regulator in animals and higher plants. Exogenous melatonin inhibits plant infection by multiple diseases; however, the role of melatonin in cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) infection remains unknown. Results: In this study, we demonstrated that exogenous melatonin treatment can effectively control CGMMV infection. The greatest control effect was achieved by 3 days of root irrigation at a melatonin concentration of 50 µM. Exogenous melatonin showed preventive and therapeutic effects against CGMMV infection at early stage in tobacco and cucumber. We utilized RNA sequencing technology to compare the expression profiles of mock-inoculated, CGMMV-infected, and melatonin+CGMMV-infected tobacco leaves. Defense-related gene CRISP1 was specifically upregulated in response to melatonin, but not to salicylic acid (SA). Silencing CRISP1 enhanced the preventive effects of melatonin on CGMMV infection, but had no effect on CGMMV infection. We also found exogenous melatonin has preventive effects against another Tobamovirus, pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV) infection. Conclusions: Together, these results indicate that exogenous melatonin controls two Tobamovirus infection and inhibition of CRISP1 enhanced melatonin control effects against CGMMV infection, which may lead to the development of a novel melatonin treatment for Tobamovirus control.
Project description:Our experiments show that exogenous MT treatment can effectively delay the decay and water loss rate of post-harvest wax apples, which may be related to reducing the degree of membrane lipid peroxidation and inhibiting enzymatic browning. MT treatment also maintains the quality of post-harvest wax apple by enhancing the activity of antioxidant enzymes. At the same time, it can reduce the incidence of post-harvest diseases of wax apple by increasing the JA and SA contents. MT can down-regulate the expression of genes related to oxidation, and up-regulate the expression of related genes in antioxidant enzymes and non-enzymatic antioxidant pathways, suggesting that exogenous melatonin can reduce the production of excess ROS and maintain the redox homeostasis of post-harvest wax apple. Therefore, melatonin, as a strong and effective free radical scavenger and antioxidant, plays an important role in delaying the decay of post-harvest wax apples and prolonging the shelf life.
Project description:The purpose of this study is to investigate how melatonin-influenced promyogenic factor secreted from fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) regulate muscle regeneration and muscle cell fusion during muscle repair. We highlighted the role of melatonin in regulating crosstalk between muscle stem cells and FAPs during muscle regeneration. Mice that were treated with melatonin exhibited improved muscle regeneration and reduced intramuscular fat deposition, which were associated with enhanced myogenesis, remodeled lipid metabolism and reduced immune cell infiltration. Notably, melatonin did not exert positive effects on cell fusion and myotube formation during differentiation. Interestingly, melatonin repressed fibro-adipogenic progenitor (FAP) adipogenesis in a dose-dependent manner in vitro. Furthermore, melatonin treatment enhanced the pro-myogenic effects of FAPs, which stimulated GDF10 secretion to promote muscle cell fusion and induce myotube hypertrophy.
Project description:Plant lodging severely reduced crop yield and quality. Different plant growth regulators (PGRs) have been applied to improve lodging resistance through the regulation of physiological changes, especially on the increase of stem thickness and strength. Melatonin is a pleiotropic PGR for the regulation of plant growth and development. In this study, we demonstrated that the exogenous treatment of melatonin to Glycine max significantly enhanced plant lateral growth by increasing stem diameter. In addition to the stem thickness, secondary cell wall (SCW) deposition acts as another critical factor for stem rigidity for lodging resistance. To understand whether exogenous treatment of melatonin would regulate SCW biosynthesis genes, we performed transcriptomic analyses on the stems of Glycine max with or without melatonin treatment. Through the differentially-expressed-genes (DEGs) analyses, many SCW biosynthesis genes were found to be regulated by melatonin, including the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin biosynthesis enzymes. We also found that the two known master regulators, NAC and MYB, of SCW biosynthesis genes were induced under melatonin treatment, which further supported our observation on the differential expression of SCW biosynthesis genes. Our study highlighted the improvement of lodging resistance by the exogenous treatment of melatonin through the increase of plant stem thickness and the regulation of SCW biosynthesis genes and their upstream TFs in Glycine max.