ALBERT

Description: Genes, Vol. 8, Pages 238: Development of Genome-Wide SSR Markers from Angelica gigas Nakai Using Next Generation Sequencing Genes doi: 10.3390/genes8100238 Authors: Jinsu Gil Yurry Um Serim Kim Ok Kim Sung Koo Chinreddy Reddy Seong-Cheol Kim Chang Hong Sin-Gi Park Ho Kim Dong Lee Byung-Hoon Jeong Jong-Wook Chung Yi Lee Angelica gigas Nakai is an important medicinal herb, widely utilized in Asian countries especially in Korea, Japan, and China. Although it is a vital medicinal herb, the lack of sequencing data and efficient molecular markers has limited the application of a genetic approach for horticultural improvements. Simple sequence repeats (SSRs) are universally accepted molecular markers for population structure study. In this study, we found over 130,000 SSRs, ranging from di- to deca-nucleotide motifs, using the genome sequence of Manchu variety (MV) of A. gigas, derived from next generation sequencing (NGS). From the putative SSR regions identified, a total of 16,496 primer sets were successfully designed. Among them, we selected 848 SSR markers that showed polymorphism from in silico analysis and contained tri- to hexa-nucleotide motifs. We tested 36 SSR primer sets for polymorphism in 16 A. gigas accessions. The average polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.69; the average observed heterozygosity (HO) values, and the expected heterozygosity (HE) values were 0.53 and 0.73, respectively. These newly developed SSR markers would be useful tools for molecular genetics, genotype identification, genetic mapping, molecular breeding, and studying species relationships of the Angelica genus.

Description: Grouper is one of the favorite sea food resources in Southeast Asia. However, the outbreaks of the viral nervous necrosis (VNN) disease due to nervous necrosis virus (NNV) infection have caused mass mortality of grouper larvae. Many aqua-farms have suffered substantial financial loss due to the occurrence of VNN. To better understand the infection mechanism of NNV, we performed the transcriptome analysis of sevenband grouper brain tissue, the main target of NNV infection. After artificial NNV challenge, transcriptome of brain tissues of sevenband grouper was subjected to next generation sequencing (NGS) using an Illumina Hi-seq 2500 system. Both mRNAs from pooled samples of mock and NNV-infected sevenband grouper brains were sequenced. Clean reads of mock and NNV-infected samples were de novo assembled and obtained 104,348 unigenes. In addition, 628 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in response to NNV infection were identified. This result could provide critical information not only for the identification of genes involved in NNV infection, but for the understanding of the response of sevenband groupers to NNV infection.

Description: An aquatic gastropod belonging to the family Neritidae, Clithon retropictus is listed as an endangered class II species in South Korea. The lack of information on its genomic background limits the ability to obtain functional data resources and inhibits informed conservation planning for this species. In the present study, the transcriptomic sequencing and de novo assembly of C. retropictus generated a total of 241,696,750 high-quality reads. These assembled to 282,838 unigenes with mean and N50 lengths of 736.9 and 1201 base pairs, respectively. Of these, 125,616 unigenes were subjected to annotation analysis with known proteins in Protostome DB, COG, GO, and KEGG protein databases (BLASTX; E ≤ 0.00001) and with known nucleotides in the Unigene database (BLASTN; E ≤ 0.00001). The GO analysis indicated that cellular process, cell, and catalytic activity are the predominant GO terms in the biological process, cellular component, and molecular function categories, respectively. In addition, 2093 unigenes were distributed in 107 different KEGG pathways. Furthermore, 49,280 simple sequence repeats were identified in the unigenes (>1 kilobase sequences). This is the first report on the identification of transcriptomic and microsatellite resources for C. retropictus, which opens up the possibility of exploring traits related to the adaptation and acclimatization of this species.

Description: The 14-3-3 family of phosphorylated serine-binding proteins acts as signaling molecules in biological processes such as metabolism, division, differentiation, autophagy, and apoptosis. Herein, we report the requirement of 14-3-3ɛ isoform from Tenebrio molitor (Tm14-3-3ɛ) in the hemocyte antimicrobial activity. The Tm14-3-3ɛ transcript is 771 nucleotides in length and encodes a polypeptide of 256 amino acid residues. The protein has the typical 14-3-3 domain, the nuclear export signal (NES) sequence, and the peptide binding residues. The Tm14-3-3ɛ transcript shows a significant three-fold expression in the hemocyte of T. molitor larvae when infected with Escherichia coli Tm14-3-3ɛ silenced larvae show significantly lower survival rates when infected with E. coli. Under Tm14-3-3ɛ silenced condition, a strong antimicrobial activity is elicited in the hemocyte of the host inoculated with E. coli. This suggests impaired secretion of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) into the hemolymph. Furthermore, a reduction in AMP secretion under Tm14-3-3ɛ silenced condition would be responsible for loss in the capacity to kill bacteria and might explain the reduced survivability of the larvae upon E. coli challenge. This shows that Tm14-3-3ɛ is required to maintain innate immunity in T. molitor by enabling antimicrobial secretion into the hemolymph and explains the functional specialization of the isoform.

Description: Genes, Vol. 8, Pages 228: Isoform Sequencing Provides a More Comprehensive View of the Panax ginseng Transcriptome Genes doi: 10.3390/genes8090228 Authors: Ick-Hyun Jo Jinsu Lee Chi Hong Dong Lee Wonsil Bae Sin-Gi Park Yong Ahn Young Kim Jang Kim Jung Lee Dong Hyun Sung-Keun Rhee Chang Hong Kyong Bang Hojin Ryu Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) has been widely used for medicinal purposes and contains potent plant secondary metabolites, including ginsenosides. To obtain transcriptomic data that offers a more comprehensive view of functional genomics in P. ginseng, we generated genome-wide transcriptome data from four different P. ginseng tissues using PacBio isoform sequencing (Iso-Seq) technology. A total of 135,317 assembled transcripts were generated with an average length of 3.2 kb and high assembly completeness. Of those unigenes, 67.5% were predicted to be complete full-length (FL) open reading frames (ORFs) and exhibited a high gene annotation rate. Furthermore, we successfully identified unique full-length genes involved in triterpenoid saponin synthesis and plant hormonal signaling pathways, including auxin and cytokinin. Studies on the functional genomics of P. ginseng seedlings have confirmed the rapid upregulation of negative feed-back loops by auxin and cytokinin signaling cues. The conserved evolutionary mechanisms in the auxin and cytokinin canonical signaling pathways of P. ginseng are more complex than those in Arabidopsis thaliana. Our analysis also revealed a more detailed view of transcriptome-wide alternative isoforms for 88 genes. Finally, transposable elements (TEs) were also identified, suggesting transcriptional activity of TEs in P. ginseng. In conclusion, our results suggest that long-read, full-length or partial-unigene data with high-quality assemblies are invaluable resources as transcriptomic references in P. ginseng and can be used for comparative analyses in closely related medicinal plants.

Description: The actin depolymerizing factor (ADF) proteins have growth, development, defense-related and growth regulatory functions in plants. The present study used genome-wide analysis to investigate ADF family genes in tomato. Eleven tomato ADF genes were identified and differential expression patterns were found in different organs. SlADF6 was preferentially expressed in roots, suggesting its function in root development. SlADF1, SlADF3 and SlADF10 were predominately expressed in the flowers compared to the other organs and specifically in the stamen compared to other flower parts, indicating their potential roles in pollen development. The comparatively higher expression of SlADF3 and SlADF11 at early fruit developmental stages might implicate them in determining final fruit size. SlADF5 and SlADF8 had relatively higher levels of expression five days after the breaker stage of fruit development, suggesting their possible role in fruit ripening. Notably, six genes were induced by cold and heat, seven by drought, five by NaCl, and four each by abscisic acid (ABA), jasmonic acid (JA) and wounding treatments. The differential expression patterns of the SlADF genes under different types of stresses suggested their function in stress tolerance in tomato plants. Our results will be helpful for the functional characterization of ADF genes during organ and fruit development of tomato under different stresses.

Description: Genes, Vol. 9, Pages 330: Molecular Cloning and Effects of Tm14-3-3ζ-Silencing on Larval Survivability Against E. coli and C. albicans in Tenebrio molitor Genes doi: 10.3390/genes9070330 Authors: Jeong Hwan Seong Yong Hun Jo Gi Won Seo Soyi Park Ki Beom Park Jun Ho Cho Hye Jin Ko Chang Eun Kim Bharat Bhusan Patnaik Sung Ah Jun Yong Seok Choi Young Wook Kim In Seok Bang Yong Seok Lee Yeon Soo Han The 14-3-3 family of proteins performs key regulatory functions in phosphorylation-dependent signaling pathways including cell survival and proliferation, apoptosis, regulation of chromatin structure and autophagy. In this study, the zeta isoform of 14-3-3 proteins (designated as Tm14-3-3ζ) was identified from the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) database of the coleopteran pest, Tenebrio molitor. Tm14-3-3ζ messenger RNA (mRNA) is expressed at higher levels in the immune organs of the larval and adult stages of the insect and exhibit almost five-fold induction within 3 h post-infection of the larvae with Escherichia coli and Candida albicans. To investigate the biological function of Tm14-3-3ζ, a peptide-based Tm14-3-3ζ polyclonal antibody was generated in rabbit and the specificity was confirmed using Western blot analysis. Immunostaining and confocal microscopic analyses indicate that Tm14-3-3ζ is mainly expressed in the membranes of midgut epithelial cells, the nuclei of fat body and the cytosol of hemocytes. Gene silencing of Tm14-3-3ζ increases mortality of the larvae at 7 days post-infection with E. coli and C. albicans. Our findings demonstrate that 14-3-3ζ in T. molitor is essential in the host defense mechanisms against bacteria and fungi.

Description: In order to characterize the female or male transcriptome of the Pacific abalone and further increase genomic resources, we sequenced the mRNA of full-length complementary DNA (cDNA) libraries derived from pooled tissues of female and male Haliotis discus hannai by employing the Iso-Seq protocol of the PacBio RSII platform. We successfully assembled whole full-length cDNA sequences and constructed a transcriptome database that included isoform information. After clustering, a total of 15,110 and 12,145 genes that coded for proteins were identified in female and male abalones, respectively. A total of 13,057 putative orthologs were retained from each transcriptome in abalones. Overall Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways analyzed in each database showed a similar composition between sexes. In addition, a total of 519 and 391 isoforms were genome-widely identified with at least two isoforms from female and male transcriptome databases. We found that the number of isoforms and their alternatively spliced patterns are variable and sex-dependent. This information represents the first significant contribution to sex-preferential genomic resources of the Pacific abalone. The availability of whole female and male transcriptome database and their isoform information will be useful to improve our understanding of molecular responses and also for the analysis of population dynamics in the Pacific abalone.

Description: Most histone methyltransferases (HMTase) harbor a predicted Su(var)3–9, Enhancer-of-zeste, Trithorax (SET) domain, which transfers a methyl group to a lysine residue in their substrates. Mutations of the SET domains were reported to cause intellectual disability syndromes such as Sotos, Weaver, or Kabuki syndromes. Sotos syndrome is an overgrowth syndrome with intellectual disability caused by haploinsufficiency of the nuclear receptor binding SET domain protein 1 (NSD1) gene, an HMTase at 5q35.2–35.3. Here, we analyzed NSD1 in 34 Brazilian Sotos patients and identified three novel and eight known mutations. Using protein modeling and bioinformatic approaches, we evaluated the effects of one novel (I2007F) and 21 previously reported missense mutations in the SET domain. For the I2007F mutation, we observed conformational change and loss of structural stability in Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations which may lead to loss-of-function of the SET domain. For six mutations near the ligand-binding site we observed in simulations steric clashes with neighboring side chains near the substrate S-Adenosyl methionine (SAM) binding site, which may disrupt the enzymatic activity of NSD1. These results point to a structural mechanism underlying the pathology of the NSD1 missense mutations in the SET domain in Sotos syndrome. NSD1 mutations were identified in only 32% of the Brazilian Sotos patients in our study cohort suggesting other genes (including unknown disease genes) underlie the molecular etiology for the majority of these patients. Our studies also found NSD1 expression to be profound in human fetal brain and cerebellum, accounting for prenatal onset and hypoplasia of cerebellar vermis seen in Sotos syndrome.

Description: The vetch (Vicia sativa) is one of the most important annual forage legumes globally due to its multiple uses and high nutritional content. Despite these agronomical benefits, many drawbacks, including cyano-alanine toxin, has reduced the agronomic value of vetch varieties. Here, we used 454 technology to sequence the two V. sativa subspecies (ssp. sativa and ssp. nigra) to enrich functional information and genetic marker resources for the vetch research community. A total of 86,532 and 47,103 reads produced 35,202 and 18,808 unigenes with average lengths of 735 and 601 bp for V. sativa sativa and V. sativa nigra, respectively. Gene Ontology annotations and the cluster of orthologous gene classes were used to annotate the function of the Vicia transcriptomes. The Vicia transcriptome sequences were then mined for simple sequence repeat (SSR) and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. About 13% and 3% of the Vicia unigenes contained the putative SSR and SNP sequences, respectively. Among those SSRs, 100 were chosen for the validation and the polymorphism test using the Vicia germplasm set. Thus, our approach takes advantage of the utility of transcriptomic data to expedite a vetch breeding program.