Project description:PP2Cs represent the largest gene family of protein phosphatases. Current research has predominantly focused on the regulation of the PP2C.A family in the abscisic acid (ABA) signaling pathway. However, there is currently no documented research regarding the involvement of PP2Cs in plant responses to biotic stressors. In this study, we found that maize (Zea may) ZmPP2C45 is an essential but insufficient negative regulator of benzoxazinoids. Since BZXs are important defensive metabolites against insect herbivores, we hypothesized that the genetic knock-out of ZmPP2C45 could affect the performance of insect herbivores on these plants.To further investigate how ZmPP2C45 depleted BZX contents, we performed a comparative transcriptomics analysis on the Zmpp2c45 mutants and the wildtype control. As a result, 789 genes were found significantly up-regulated in the mutant plants, whereas 198 genes were down-regulated. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses revealed that BZX biosynthesis-related genes were over-represented among the up-regulated genes in the Zmpp2c45 plants
Project description:Plant volatiles can mediate plant-plant communication in the sense that plants attacked by herbivores can signal their unattacked neighbors of danger by emitting HIPVs. We call this the priming effect. Since the plant defense response is a systematic process involving numerous pathways and genes,to characterize the priming process, a time course study using a genome-wide microarray may provide more accurate information about the priming process. Furthermore, to what extent do the priming process and direct defense share similar gene expression profiles or pathways are also not clear. We used microarray to detect the priming effect of plant volatiles to healthy Arabidopsis thaliana, and the effect of direct leafminer feeding to Arabidopsis thalianas.
Project description:Stalk borers are major pests for some of the most important crops in the world, such as maize or rice. Plant defense mechanisms against these herbivores have been poorly investigated. The maize´s stalk responds to insect feeding activating defense genes including hormone biosynthetic-related or proteinase inhibitor transcripts. The most outstanding conclusion is that cells in the maize´s stalk undergo cell wall fortification after corn borer tunneling. We performed a gene expression profiling to identify those genes differentially expressed in maize after infestation with the corn borer S. nonagrioides.
Project description:Tomato plants are commonly attacked by herbivorous mites, including by generalist Tetranychus urticae and specialists Tetranychus evansi and Aculops lycopersici. Mite feeding induces plant defense responses that reduce mite performance. However, via poorly understood mechanisms, T. evansi and A. lycopersici suppress plant defenses and, consequently, maintain a high performance on tomato. Accordingly, on a shared host, non-adapted T. urticae can be facilitated by either of the specialist mites, likely via the suppression of plant defenses. To better understand defense suppression and indirect plant-mediated interactions between herbivorous mites, we used microarrays to analyze transcriptomic changes in tomato after attack by either a single mite species (T. urticae, T. evansi, A. lycopersici) or two species simultaneously (T. urticae plus T. evansi or T. urticae plus A. lycopersici). Additionally, we assessed mite-induced changes in defense-associated phytohormones using LC-MS/MS. Compared to non-infested controls, jasmonates (JAs) and salicylate (SA) accumulated to higher amounts upon all mite-infestation treatments, but lowest increases were detected after single infestations with defense-suppressors. Strikingly, whereas 8 to 10% of tomato genes was differentially expressed upon single infestations with T. urticae or A. lycopersici, only 0.1% was altered in T. evansi-infested plants. Transcriptome analysis of dual-infested leaves revealed that T. evansi dampened T. urticae-triggered host responses on a genome-wide scale, while A. lycopersici primarily suppressed T. urticae-induced JA defenses. Our results provide valuable new insights into the mechanisms underlying host defense suppression and the plant-mediated facilitation of competing herbivores.
Project description:Plant volatiles can mediate plant-plant communication in the sense that plants attacked by herbivores can signal their unattacked neighbors of danger by emitting HIPVs. We call this the priming effect. Since the plant defense response is a systematic process involving numerous pathways and genes,to characterize the priming process, a time course study using a genome-wide microarray may provide more accurate information about the priming process. Furthermore, to what extent do the priming process and direct defense share similar gene expression profiles or pathways are also not clear. We used microarray to detect the priming effect of plant volatiles to healthy Arabidopsis thaliana, and the effect of direct leafminer feeding to Arabidopsis thalianas. A system using Lima bean plants, from which HIPVs can be effectively induced by leafminer feeding, as emitters and Arabidopsis thaliana as receivers is used to track the priming process between neighbor plants. The Arabisopsis thaliana seedlings were treated by volatiles from leafminer fed lima bean for 24h or 48h for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix microarrays. The Arabisopsis thaliana seedlings fed by leafminer directly were also collected The for RNA extraction and hybridization on Affymetrix micorarrays. We want to explore the response of Arabidopsis thaliana to priming volatiles during a 24h-48h time course. We also want to compare the effect of priming and direct leafminer feeding.
Project description:Specialized metabolites provide important layers of biochemical immunity underlaying crop resistance; however, challenges in resolving pathways limit applications. To understand maize (Zea mays) antibiotics imparting disease resistance we integrated large-scale transcriptomic patterns, association mapping, enzyme assays, proteomics, structure elucidation and targeted mutagenesis. Three zealexin (Zx) gene clusters (GC) comprised of 4 sesquiterpene synthases (GC1:Zx1-4) and 6 cytochrome P450s in the Cyp71Z (GC2:Zx5-7) and Cyp81E (GC3:Zx8-10) families drive the production diverse antibiotic cocktails. Gene duplications ensure pathway resiliency to single null mutations while promiscuous enzymes constitute a biosynthetic hourglass pathway acting on diverse endogenous substrates to drive additional antibiotic complexity. Zx pathway activation mediating pathogen resistance occurs during a dramatic reorganization of >50% of the measurable proteome. Understanding the genetic basis of specialized metabolic pathways structured to maintain disease resistance provides a conceptual foundation for transferring durable biochemical immunity between plants.