Search

Chloroplasts undergo drastic morphological and physiological changes during senescence with a visible symptom of chlorophyll (Chl) degradation. A stay green mutant was identified and then isolated from the japonica rice ( Oryza sativa) cv. Huazhiwu by γ-ray irradiation. The stay green mutant was characterized by Chl retention, stable Chl–protein complexes, and stable thylakoid membrane structures, but lost its photosynthetic competence during senescence. The gene, designated Stay Green Rice ( SGR), was cloned by a positional cloning strategy encoding an ancient protein containing a putative chloroplast transit peptide. SGR protein was found in both soluble and thylakoid membranes in rice. SGR, like the gene for pheophorbide a oxygenase (PaO), was constitutively expressed, but was upregulated by dark-induced senescence in rice leaves. Senescence-induced expression of SGR and PaO was enhanced by ABA, but inhibited by cytokinin. Overexpression of SGR reduced the number of lamellae in the grana thylakoids and reduced the Chl content of normally growing leaves. This indicates that upregulation of SGR increases Chl breakdown during senescence in rice. A small quantity of chlorophyllide a accumulated in sgr leaves, but this also accumulated in wild-type rice leaves during senescence. Some pheophorbide a was detected in sgr leaves in the dark. According to these observations, we propose that SGR may be involved in regulating or taking part in the activity of PaO, and then may influence Chl breakdown and degradation of pigment-protein complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple isoforms of starch synthases (SSs) have been found in plants. In addition, at least two isoforms of granule-bound SS (GBSS) and SSII have further diverged in cereals into two or three subisoforms. Here, we report the occurrence, phylogeny, and expression patterns of two different forms of both GBSSI and SSII in four legumes: birdsfoot trefoil, cowpea, mung bean, and soybean. The phylogenetic data acquired indicate that the putative proteins of both SS duplicates have diverged into two different isoforms: GBSSIa and GBSSIb, and SSIIa and SSIIb. The SSIIb genes appear to have become non-functional in soybean as a result of two nonsense mutations in the putative coding region. Transcripts of the GBSSIa and SSIIa genes were found to be abundant in cotyledons, but had lower expression levels in the leaves of the two starchy seed legumes. However, these genes were expressed at moderate levels in the leaves of the two oilseed legumes. In contrast, the GBSSIb and SSIIb genes were mainly expressed in the leaves of the legumes we examined. In both the legume and cereal species we studied, the GBSS orthologs that were mainly expressed in sink tissues, were more hydrophilic and may have been subjected to more intense purifying selection than those that were mainly expressed in source tissues. These findings provide evidence that the GBSSI and SSII genes in the starchy seed legumes and cereals studied have undergone convergent evolution with respect to evolutionary constraints, amino acid sequences, and expression divergence after gene duplication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of small noncoding RNAs that play important roles in the regulation of gene expression. However, the role of miRNAs in bovine mammary gland responses to heat stress is not well understood. Results: In the present study, we performed a deep RNA sequencing analysis to identify miRNAs associated with the heat stress potential of the bovine mammary gland. We identified 27 miRNAs that were differentially expressed significantly between the mammary tissue of Holstein cattle heat stress and normal conditions. Twenty miRNAs had higher expression in the mammary tissue of heat-stressed Holstein cattle. The seven highest differentially expressed candidate miRNAs (bta-miR-21-5p, bta-miR-99a-5p, bta-miR-146b, bta-miR-145, bta-miR-2285 t, bta-miR-133a, and bta-miR-29c) identified by deep RNA sequencing were additionally evaluated by stem-loop qPCR. Enrichment analyses for targeted genes revealed that the major differences between miRNAs expression in the mammary gland of heat-stressed versus control were associated with the regulation of Wnt, TGF-β, MAPK, Notch, and JAK-STAT. Conclusions: These data indicated that the differentially expressed miRNAs identified in this study may act as dominant regulators during heat stress. We might reduce heat stress damage of Holstein cows by up-regulating or down-regulating these differentially expressed miRNAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) is a small perennial tree or large shrub, which is well-adapted to semi-arid regions and is considered to have potential as a crop for biofuel production. It is now regarded as an excellent model for studying biofuel plants. However, our knowledge about the molecular responses of this species to drought stress is currently limited. Results In this study, genome-wide transcriptional profiles of roots and leaves of 8-week old physic nut seedlings were analyzed 1, 4 and 7 days after withholding irrigation. We observed a total of 1533 and 2900 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in roots and leaves, respectively. Gene Ontology analysis showed that the biological processes enriched in droughted plants relative to unstressed plants were related to biosynthesis, transport, nucleobase-containing compounds, and cellular protein modification. The genes found to be up-regulated in roots were related to abscisic acid (ABA) synthesis and ABA signal transduction, and to the synthesis of raffinose. Genes related to ABA signal transduction, and to trehalose and raffinose synthesis, were up-regulated in leaves. Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response genes were significantly up-regulated in leaves under drought stress, while a number of genes related to wax biosynthesis were also up-regulated in leaves. Genes related to unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis were down-regulated and polyunsaturated fatty acids were significantly reduced in leaves 7 days after withholding irrigation. As drought stress increased, genes related to ethylene synthesis, ethylene signal transduction and chlorophyll degradation were up-regulated, and the chlorophyll content of leaves was significantly reduced by 7 days after withholding irrigation. Conclusions This study provides us with new insights to increase our understanding of the response mechanisms deployed by physic nut seedlings under drought stress. The genes and pathways identified in this study also provide much information of potential value for germplasm improvement and breeding for drought resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L.) is an oilseed plant species with high potential utility as a biofuel. Furthermore, following recent sequencing of its genome and the availability of expressed sequence tag (EST) libraries, it is a valuable model plant for studying carbon assimilation in endosperms of oilseed plants. There have been several transcriptomic analyses of developing physic nut seeds using ESTs, but they have provided limited information on the accumulation of stored resources in the seeds. Methodology/Principal Findings: We applied next-generation Illumina sequencing technology to analyze global gene expression profiles of developing physic nut seeds 14, 19, 25, 29, 35, 41, and 45 days after pollination (DAP). The acquired profiles reveal the key genes, and their expression timeframes, involved in major metabolic processes including: carbon flow, starch metabolism, and synthesis of storage lipids and proteins in the developing seeds. The main period of storage reserves synthesis in the seeds appears to be 29-41 DAP, and the fatty acid composition of the developing seeds is consistent with relative expression levels of different isoforms of acyl-ACP thioesterase and fatty acid desaturase genes. Several transcription factor genes whose expression coincides with storage reserve deposition correspond to those known to regulate the process in Arabidopsis. Conclusions/Significance: The results will facilitate searches for genes that influence de novo lipid synthesis, accumulation and their regulatory networks in developing physic nut seeds, and other oil seeds. Thus, they will be helpful in attempts to modify these plants for efficient biofuel production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]