Project description:This experiment is to assess the changes of maize genes expression in response to Fusarium graminearum stains wild-type PH-1 and Δcfem1 mutant. F. graminearum is the major casual fungal pathogen of Gibberella stalk rot on maize.
Project description:The biotrophic fungal pathogen Ustilago maydis cause common smut in maize, and lead to gall formation on all aerial organs, especially on maize kernel thus reduce yield. The interaction of U. maydis with maize is a well-established model to study the interaction between maize and biotrophic pathogen. U. maydis infection could activate host immune responses including: ROS accumulation, protease activation, salicylic acid signaling. U. maydis employ several strategies to overcome maize immune response, thus initial the biotrophic interaction with host. It has been suggested that genetic factors of maize host affected the disease severity of U. maydis infection, here we investigated the transcriptome profile of resistance and susceptible maize lines upon U. maydis infection, thus propose candidate maize genes involved in the defense response in maize to corn smut cause by U. maydis.
Project description:The Lobaria pulmonaria holobiont consists of algal, fungal, cyanobacterial, and integrated diverse bacterial components and thrives in undisturbed, humid forests. We set out to investigate the role of the microbiome of L. pulmonaria in the adaptation of this ecologically sensitive lichen species to diverse climatic conditions. Our central hypothesis posited that microbiome composition and functionality aligns with continental-scale climatic parameters related to temperature and precipitation. In addition, we tested whether short-term weather dynamics, sampling season, and the genotypes of the fungal and algal partners influenced the variation in the lichen microbiome. Insights into compositional and functional changes within the microbiome were obtained using metaproteomics. Comparative examinations between Sub-Atlantic Lowland (SAL) and Alpine (ALP) regions unveiled the distinct impact of climate on microbiome functions.
Project description:Fusarium graminearum (teleomorph Gibberella zeae) is a prominent pathogen that infects major cereal crops, such as wheat, barley, and maize. To dissect molecular mechanisms of small non-coding RNA-mediated gene regulation during ascospore production, we compared small RNA transcriptomes of fungal cultures harvested from F. graminearum wild-type strain Z-3639 and RNAi component mutants at 5 days after sexual induction.
Project description:Southern corn rust (SCR) is one of destructive diseases in maize caused by Puccinia polysora Undrew. (P. polysara), widely occurring in warm-temperate and tropical regions globally. To identify candidate SCR resistance-related proteins and understand the molecular mechanism underlaying the maize and P. polysara interaction, comparative proteomic analysis of susceptible and resistance maize lines was performed. A total of 6,612 proteins were successfully identified using an iTRAQ-based proteomic approach. Fold changes and statistical analysis demonstrated that 687 proteins increased and 802 proteins decreased in the resistant line, while 571 increased and 464 decreased in the susceptible line. One remorin protein, namely ZmREM1.3 (B4G1B0), was significantly induced by SCR in the resistant genotype, while decreased in susceptible genotype after P. polysara infection. Plant-specific remorin proteins have been shown to play important roles during microbial infection and plant signaling processes. Transgenic analysis showed that overexpression of ZmREM1.3 in maize confers enhanced resistance to the biotrophic fungal pathogen SCR. Upon pathogen challenge, the ZmREM1.3-overexpressing plants accumulated higher levels of defense hormones, SA and JA. Moreover, stronger induction of defense gene expression was also observed in ZmREM1.3-overexpressing maize plants in response to SCR infection. Taken together, our results support that ZmREM1.3 plays a positive role in regulating the maize defense against SCR likely through SA/JA-mediated defense signaling pathways. This is the first attempt for large scale analysis of the molecular mechanisms underlaying the maize and P. polysara interaction at the proteomic level, and the first evidence for remorin protein family in resistant to fungal disease.
Project description:Exserohilum turcicum is a fungal pathogen that causes northern corn leaf blight and sorghum leaf blight. However, strains are host-specific, meaning a strain typically only causes disease on either maize or sorghum. This pathosystem provides a unique opportunity to identify the mechanisms underlying host specificity through genomic and transcriptomic studies. To characterize host specificity, we (i) constructed de novo annotated assemblies of one sorghum- (15St008) and one maize-specific (Et52B) E. turcicum strain, ii) identified and characterized structural changes between the two genomes, and (iii) compared differential gene expression. This GEO project contains the gene expression of the maize-specific strain (Et52B) during in planta infection of maize and in axenic cultures.
Project description:Characterization of proteins critical to fungal cellulosome assembly for Anaeromyces robustus, Neocallimastix californiae and Piromyces finnis (cellulosomes are multi-protein complexes that tether plant biomass degrading enzymes together). These findings suggest that the fungal cellulosome is an independently evolved fungal complex that co-opted useful activities from bacterial neighbors within the herbivore rumen microbiome.
Project description:Fusarium graminearum is the causal agent of Gibberella stalk rot in maize stem, resulting maize lodging, yield, quality, and mechanical harvesting capacity. To date, little is known about the maize stem defense mechanism in response to invasion of F. graminearum. This study represents a global proteomic approach to document the infection by F. graminearum. A total of 1,894 differentially accumulated proteins (DEPs) were identified after inoculation of maize plants with F. graminearum. Functional categorization analysis indicated that proteins involved in plant-pathogen interaction were inducible at early stages of infection. We also found that the expression of proteins involved in phenylpropanoid, flavonoid, and terpenoid biosynthesis were up-regulated in response to F. graminearum infection, which may reflect a particular contribution of secondary metabolism in protection against the fungal attack in maize stem. Together, our results indicated that the defense response of maize stem to F. graminearum infection was multifaceted and involved the induction of proteins from various innate immunity related pathways, which had directive significance for molecular genetic breeding of maize disease-resistant varieties.
Project description:Root exudates contain specialised metabolites that affect the plant’s root microbiome. How host-specific microbes cope with these bioactive compounds, and how this ability shapes root microbiomes, remains largely unknown. We investigated how maize root bacteria metabolise benzoxazinoids, the main specialised metabolites of maize. Diverse and abundant bacteria metabolised the major compound in the maize rhizosphere MBOA and formed AMPO. AMPO forming bacteria are enriched in the rhizosphere of benzoxazinoid-producing maize and can use MBOA as carbon source. We identified a novel gene cluster associated with AMPO formation in microbacteria. The first gene in this cluster, bxdA encodes a lactonase that converts MBOA to AMPO in vitro. A deletion mutant of the homologous bxdA genes in the genus Sphingobium, does not form AMPO nor is it able to use MBOA as a carbon source. BxdA was identified in different genera of maize root bacteria. Here we show that plant-specialised metabolites select for metabolisation-competent root bacteria. BxdA represents a novel benzoxazinoid metabolisation gene whose carriers successfully colonize the maize rhizosphere and thereby shape the plant’s chemical environmental footprint