Project description:Background: Sorghum bicolor is a remarkably drought tolerant cereal crop. Its natural biodiversity that enables this tolerance has developed in sub-Saharan Africa. The sequencing of the sorghum genome in 2009 has expedited research of this crop which has also been proposed as a model C4 cereal crop for genomics. In this study, the genetic response mechanisms involved in sorghums’ tolerance to progressive water deficit and moderate re-watering were investigated in three previously uncharacterized South African landraces (designated: LR5, LR6 and LR35) using cDNA microarrays comprising 35 899 transcript probes. Results: Across the three landraces, significant differential expression of 1 797 genes, including 264 genes with currently unknown functions, were altered in response to progressive water stress and re-watering. The modulated sorghum genes had homology to proteins involved in growth, regulation, and protection. Gene ontology analysis identified significant enrichment of 26 genes involved in the ‘response to abiotic stimulus’ GO category in LR6 during severe stress. The expression of USP responded to progressive water stress and moderate re-watering in LR6 and LR35. Moreover, our results indicate a putative role for β-alanine betaine biosynthesis in drought tolerance of sorghum. Conclusions: This study identified the drought responsive gene complement of three previously uncharacterized South African sorghum landraces. Each landrace is a distinct genotype and similar responses to water deficit and re-watering were not expected. Functional characterizations of some of the differentially expressed genes found in this study may be used as possible targets for marker-assisted breeding or transgenic initiatives for sorghum and, other closely related crop species.
Project description:This study utilized next generation sequencing technology (RNA-Seq) to examine the transcriptome of sorghum plants challenged with osmotic stress and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) to elucidate those genes and gene networks that contribute to sorghum's tolerance to water-limiting environments with a long-term aim of developing strategies to improve plant productivity under drought. We examined the mRNA of 9 day old Sorghum bicolor (BTx623) from 2 tissue types (roots and shoots) for 2 treatments (20 uM ABA and 20% PEG) with corresponding controls (0.2M NaOH and H2O) for 27 hrs prior to harvesting, each done in triplicate biological replicates - resulting in 24 unique runs
Project description:The present study is expected to reveal regulatory network of small RNAs under drought in Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench). Sorghum genotype drought tolerant (DT) and drought susceptible (DS) were grown at 28-32 degrees C day/night temperature with 12/12 h light/dark period in the phytotron glass house. The fully opened uppermost leaves from control and drought stressed seedlings were sampled and stored at -80 degrees C, and used for generation of a small RNA library. Total RNA was isolated from the leaves using the TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen, USA). Small RNA sequencing libraries were prepared using Illumina Truseq small RNA Library preparation kit following manufacturer's protocol and these libraries were sequenced on GAIIx platform (Illumina Inc., USA). Small RNA reads contaminated with poor-quality and adaptor sequences were trimmed by using the UEA sRNA workbench 2.4- Plant version sequence file pre-processing (http://srna-tools.cmp.uea.ac.uk/). Then, all unique reads were submitted to the UEA sRNA toolkit-Plant version miRCat pipeline (http://srna-tools.cmp.uea.ac.uk/) to predict novel miRNAs from high-throughput small RNA sequencing data.
Project description:This study used with RNA-Seq to examine the tissue specific expression data within sorghum plants for improving the Sorghum bicolor gene annotation. We examined the RNA from tissues (spikelet, seed and stem) in Sorghum bicolor (BTx623).Total RNAs form each tissues were extracted using SDS/phenol method followed by LiCl purification
Project description:This study utilized next generation sequencing technology (RNA-Seq and BS-Seq) to examine the transcriptome and methylome of various tissues within sorghum plants with the ultimate goal of improving the Sorghum bicolor annotation We examined the mRNA of various Sorghum bicolor (BTx623) tissues (flowers, vegitative and floral meristems, embryos, roots and shoots) and bisulfite treated DNA from two root samples
Project description:Parallel Analysis of RNA Ends (PARE) sequencing reads were generated to validate putative microRNAs and identify cleavage sites in Sorghum bicolor and Setaria viridis.
Project description:Sorghum is an important crop often subjected to simultaneous high temperatures and drought in the field. We examined the gene expression response to heat and drought stress both individually, and in combination, with the aim of identifying important stress tolerance mechanisms.
Project description:This study utilized next generation sequencing technology (RNA-Seq and BS-Seq) to examine the transcriptome and methylome of various tissues within sorghum plants with the ultimate goal of improving the Sorghum bicolor annotation
Project description:Drought is a critical issue in modern agriculture, therefore there is a need to create crops with drought resilience. The complexity of plant responses to abiotic stresses, particularly in the field of brassinosteroid (BR) signaling, has been the subject of extensive research. In this study, we unveil compelling insights indicating that the BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE 1 (BRI1) receptor in Arabidopsis and Sorghum plays a critical role as a negative regulator of drought responses. Introducing untargeted mutation in the sorghum BRI1 receptor (SbBRI1) effectively enhances the plant ability to withstand osmotic and drought stress. Through DNA Affinity Purification sequencing (DAP-Seq) we show that the sorghum BRI1-EMS-SUPPRESSOR 1 (SbBES1) transcription factor, a downstream player of the BR signaling, binds to a conserved G-box binding motif, and it is responsible for regulating BR homeostasis, as its Arabidopsis ortholog AtBES1. We further characterized the drought tolerance of sorghum bri1 mutants and decipher SbBES1-mediated regulation of phenylpropanoid pathway. Our findings suggest that SbBRI1 signaling serves as a dual purpose: under normal conditions, it regulates lignin biosynthesis by SbBES1, but during drought conditions, BES1 becomes less active, allowing the activation of the flavonoid pathway. This adaptive shift improves the photosynthetic rate and photoprotection, reinforcing crop adaptation to drought.