Day 1 :
Keynote Forum
Peter M Gresshoff
The University of Queensland, Australia
Keynote: Genomics and genetics to analyze nodulation regulation of legumes
Time : 08:45-09:10
Biography:
Peter M Gresshoff is a Professor of Botany at The University of Queensland and Director of the Australian Research Council’s (ARC) Centre of Excellence in Integrative Legume Research. He has received his PhD in Genetics from ANU, Canberra in 1974 and DSc in Molecular Genetics in 1988. In his 40 year career in plant science, he has developed deep interests in plant development and its genetic control. He has focused his interests on legume plants and especially the process of root nodulation which is a prerequisite for symbiotic nitrogen fixation. He has published over 300 research papers, edited 10 books, and is Co-Inventor listed on 12 patents. He is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). He is a Member of numerous international Editorial Boards as well as expert Advisor to the IAEA, the European Union, Qantas and other biotechnology interests. He is a dedicated Teacher and Researcher and feels that the understanding of biological processes is essential for industrial development of an idea.
Abstract:
Legume plants, like peas, beans, medics and soybeans, have the ability to interact with prokaryotes like Bradyrhizobium and Rhizobium to develop novel root organs called 'nodules'. These house the inducing bacterium to develop a nitrogen-fixing symbiosis that benefits the plant, the bacterial population and resultant agronomy/economy/environment. Genetics and coupled genomic approaches have opened our understanding of the underlying processes related to the nodule ontogeny. Recent advances have clarified further the molecular mechanisms of control of the basic steps of ontogeny. Thus the molecular signals initiating 'Autoregulation of Nodulation (AON)', the critical receptor kinase in the leaf tissue (GmNARK in soybean) and the subsequent signaling cascades of shoot-derived inhibition have been revealed. Plant peptides, LRR receptor kinase, microRNA, cytokinin hormone and transcriptional factors are directly involved. Amazingly the revealed mechanisms appear to be common among all legumes, suggesting possibilities to improve the nitrogen-fixing potential of many crop legumes through lateral transfer of information and technology.
Keynote Forum
Yinghua Huang
Oklahoma State University, USA
Keynote: Genomics generates new insights into host plant defense and offers novel strategies for crop protection
Time : 09:10-09:35
Biography:
Dr. Yinghua Huang is a Research Geneticist for U.S. Department of Agriculture and serves as the Lead Scientist for the Plant Genetics Program. Before that, he served as faculty member for Oklahoma State University for ten years and now remains an Adj. Professor at the university. He is a member of editorial boards for several scientific journals. rnHe earned a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from Michigan Technological University. His scientific background is in plant genetics and molecular biology, and he has considerable research experience in plant biotechnology, genomics and crop improvement. During his early career, Dr. Huang made a breakthrough in developing a reliable system for producing transgenic larch plant, which represents the first record of genetically engineered conifer tree, carrying the important traits such as resistance to insects and herbicide. Another example of his recent research accomplishments is the systematic evaluation of the US sorghum germplasm collection (> 42,000 accessions), leading to the discovery of important new sources of resistance to greenbug and sugarcane aphids, the most important insects of field crops, including barley, sorghum and wheat, then incorporation of the new resistance into crop breeding programs. Furthermore, using the cutting-edge microarray, RNA-seq and the next-generation sequencing technologies, his lab has generated the differential expression profiles which resulted in the identification of the key genes and the networks that regulate the host defense against insect pests, crop yield traits, and bioenergy quality in sorghum. In summary, the overall goals of his research are to conduct basic studies to enhance our understanding of biological processes in plants, to apply newly developing genomics and biotechnologies to facilitate genetic improvement of crop plants, and finally to improve the production system for a better utilization of agricultural and natural resources. rn
Abstract:
Plant diseases and insect pests are the important threats to agricultural production and crop losses to diseases and insects can be greater than ~30% of the annual global production. Managing the health of crop plants to assure sustainable agricultural production can be very challenging. However, rapid advances in plant genomics are evolving our ability to analyze plant-pest interactions for a better understanding how host plants defend themselves against those attackers. In recent years, we have been developing and applying these sophisticated genomic tools to examine interactions between crop plants and pests to elucidate the genetic mechanisms of plant resistance and to fill the gap existing between genotype and phenotype of crop plants. Furthermore, the rapid development of high throughput technologies and the availability of immense amount of genomic and genetic data will provide system approaches for understanding and solving the remaining questions on host plant defense against attacking pests. This presentation reports the recent findings in the above mentioned research and demonstrates how genomics approaches can facilitate both the identification and use of resistance genes to diseases and insect pests and the development of novel resistant hybrids and varieties to achieve environmentally friendly crop protection and sustainable crop production.
Keynote Forum
Meixue Zhou
University of Tasmania, Australia
Keynote: Adapt agriculture to changing environment: Introgressing stress tolerance genes to varieties through conventional breeding
Time : 09:35-10:00
Biography:
Meixue Zhou has been involved in plant research for more than 30 years which includes more than 10 years of experience in China. His major research areas include physiological and molecular mechanisms of plant biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. He is serving as a Review Panel Member for ARC of Australia and the Natural Science Foundation of China. He is the Co-Director of Australia China Research Centre of Plant Stress Biology. In last 10 years, he has published more than 100 papers in various peer-reviewed journals. He is a Member of Editorial Board of several journals.
Abstract:
Climate is changing so we need to change, so does the plant. Plant breeders have been trying to develop stress tolerant crops using genetic variation in crops at intraspecific, interspecific and intergeneric levels. Two main approaches were employed: Traditional breeding and transgenic approach. Traditional breeding relies largely on the natural intraspecific genetic variations. When introducing a gene from different species, there is not much success due to reproductive barrier and/or the risk of other undesirable traits transferred with the target traits. To avoid this problem, genetic engineering strategy is more preferred, as it only deals with the specific genes transferred. Many abiotic stress tolerance genes have been successfully expressed in intergeneric species. Without any doubt, transgenic technology will continue to aid the search for the cellular mechanisms that underlie tolerance. However, the public acceptance of transgenic plants may face consumer backlash, which limits the use of transgenic approaches in improving abiotic stress tolerance. An effective procedure of introgressing stress tolerance genes to varieties through backcrossing program has been developed. Assisted with molecular markers, this procedure will make it possible to breed varieties or pre-breeding materials with added specific genes within 2-3 years. To achieve this, we need the genes making significant contribution to the traits, molecular markers closely linked to the genes and techniques to speed the process. Detailed requirements and technique will be discussed.
- Track12: Plant Pathology
Location: Room 2
Session Introduction
Sandra Patussi Brammer
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Brazil
Title: Differential expression and identification of new adult plant resistance genes to leaf rust in Brazilian wheat cultivar Toropi
Biography:
Sandra Patussi Brammer has completed her PhD at the age of 33 years from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and complementary studies from Cereal Research Centre- Winnipeg/Canada. She has been a collaborator at the University of Passo Fundo, advising students for master and doctoral courses in the agronomy area. She is researcher at National Wheat Research Center – Embrapa Wheat/Biotechnology Laboratory. Her current research activities are focused on plant genetics with emphasis on the molecular markers and cytogenetics molecular of winter cereals and related species. She has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and 10 book chapters.
Abstract:
Wheat leaf rust, caused by Puccinia triticina, endemic of South America, it is an important wheat disease. The Brazilian wheat cultivar Toropi has proven, durable adult plant resistance (APR) to leaf rust and pre-haustorial resistance phenotype. The objective of this study was to identify, characterize and to understand the interaction between P. triticina and Toropi by quantitatively evaluating the temporal transcription genes related to infection and defense in wheat. RNA-Seq libraries from the Toropi here produced at 0, 6, 12, 24 hours after inoculation with P. triticina. Three replicates of each innoculated and control libraries were sequenced for each timepoint. A comparison to the Chinese Spring (CS42) transcriptome was performed aiming to identify putative genes unique to the Toropi. A total of 58 million bp per library were produced: 10,181 contigs of which 9,156 were common to CS42 and 1,025 were unique to Toropi expressed only in the inoculated libraries. The expression profiles of 15 selected genes varied over time. Classical defence genes, including peroxidases, b-1,3-glucanases and an endochitinase were expressed (pre and post-haustorial) over the 72 h infection time course, while induction of transcription of other infection-related genes with a potential role in defence, although variable was maintained through-out. These genes had a role in plant lignification, oxidative stress, the regulation of energy supply, water and lipid transport, and cell cycle regulation. These Toropi specific sequences could represent new resistance candidate genes to be used in wheat breeding and to guide further functional studies on APR to leaf rust.
Yu-Cai Liao
Huazhong Agricultural University, China
Title: Specific and inducible disease resistance antibody molecules against Fusarium pathogens and mycotoxins in plants
Biography:
Yu-Cai Liao has completed his PhD in 1994 from Aachen University of Technology, Germany and Postdoctoral studies in 1996 from this university. He is the Director of Molecular Biotechnology Laboratory of Triticeae Crops, Huazhong Agricultural University. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of international and national journals.
Abstract:
Fusarium pathogens cause serious plant diseases affecting wheat, barley, maize and other cereals productions globally. The fungal pathogens produce various mycotoxins that are highly toxic to human and domestic animals. Plant germplasms with natural resistance against Fusarium pathogens and mycotoxins are inadequate. A recombinant antibody isolated by phage display from a chicken-derived immunocompetent antibody library displayed Fusarium genus-specificity. Constitutive expression in plants of the antibody or antibody fusions with different peptides conferred durable resistance specific to Fusarium pathogens with no effect on non-Fusarium organisms. This antibody-mediated pathogen-specific resistance was also regulated by Fusarium-inducible promoter to generate active immunity in plants. Wheat plants expressing the antibody-antifungal peptide fusion protein showed significantly enhanced resistance against Fusarium pathogens and mycotoxins; the infection of the wheat plants by Fusarium pathogens rapidly activated the expression of this antibody fusion and this activation played a profound role in the disease resistance. This resistance was genetically stable and could be transferred to different wheat varieties. Further characterization of the fungal antigen recognized by the Fusarium genus-specific antibody demonstrated that a highly conserved single gene-encoded antigen that specifically interacted with the disease resistance antibody, providing molecule evidences for the antibody-antigen interaction and revealing the mechanisms underlying the antibody-mediated resistance.
Onyekachi Ibiam
Federal University, Nigeria
Title: The threat of pathogenic fungi to plant, human and animal health , a global problem—Any way out?
Biography:
Professor Ibiam, Onyekachi. F. Akanu completed his Ph.D 47years ago at University of PortHarcourt, Choba. Rivers State of Nigeria.He has held several responsibilities within and outside the university system. He belongs to several academic bodies, served as a Council member of Botanical Society of Nigeria and Chairman Local Organizing Committee of Conference of BOSON 2008.He is an Editorial Board member of two reputable International Journals, and has published over 40 Journal articles in reputable Journals, about 42 articles in edited works, six books, one mimeograph and two edited books.
Abstract:
Pathogenic fungi have devastated plant, animal and human health in various ways, this is examined from the effects of their toxic secretions in various concentrations in plants and plant products, and animals and humans that feed on these plants and their products. These fungi cause reduction in plant growth and productivity in the field , as well as their nutrient values in the field and storage. These plants and their products are eaten by animals and humans , and the toxins secreted by these fungi cause various immune-suppressions, and genetic and mycotic diseases of various sorts. These diseases arise from mycotic secretions suchas ochratoxins, afflatoxins, fumiconisins etc. secreted by storage fungi like Aspergillus ochraceous, Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium spp etc.These and other toxins secreted by pathogenic fungi in the field and storage as well as their damaging effects to plant, animal and human, nutrient and anti-nutrient compositions are reviewed
Ananya prova
EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh
Title: ISOLATION, IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTIZATION OF WHITE MOLD DISEASE IN MARIGOLD (Tagetes officinales L.) AND HYACINTH BEAN (Lablab purpureus) CASUED BY Sclerotinia sclerotiorum
Biography:
Ananya Prova has completed her MS (By Research) in Plant Pathology from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University in 2012. At present he is serving as Lecturer (Department of Plant Pathology) in EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh (EBAUB). Her main research interests focuses on Molecular plant-microbe interactions, Molecular mechanism of symptoms expression of plant pathogens; Epidemiology and management of Ascomycetes phytopathogens, Biological control; etc.
Abstract:
During January 2011, while surveying for different diseases, suspected symptoms of Sclerotinia stem and blossom rot were observed on African marigold in flower garden of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh. Similarly, plant with light tan to brown blighted stems and pods were observed in the hyacinth bean field. White fluffy mycelium and production of cylindrical black sclerotia on and inside infected plant parts were also observed. Isolations from surface-disinfested flower petals and stems onto potato dextrose agar (PDA) consistently yielded white, fluffy colonies with a ring of sclerotia near the edge of PDA plates typical of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) de Bary. Pathogenecity tests were carried out for both isolates according to Koch’s postulate. The optimal temperature for mycelial growth ranged from 15 to 20°C. Optimum pH for radial growth was pH 5.0 to 6.0 in that four carbon sources except starch. Sucrose and Mannitol were found to be the best carbon sources media to support hyphal growth followed by glucose. As well as sucrose was the best medium for sclerotial development yielding highest sclerotial weight.In-vitro evaluation of different microbial antagonists, plant extracts and fungicides were reavealed that, Bavistin, Dithane M-45, Rovral, extract of eucalyptus, turmeric, and neem and Trichoderma harzianum were found to be most effective for significantly inhibition of colony growth of S. sclerotiorum at highest as well as at lowest concentration. Calcium (Ca) amendment in PDA media also significantly retarded the mycelial growth and sclerotial formation of S. sclerotiorum.
Ponnuchamy Ponmurugan
K. S. Rangasamy College of Technology, India
Title: Biological control of a phytopathogen Phomopsis theae under laboratory, greenhouse and
Biography:
Ponnuchamy Ponmurugan is currently heading the Department of Biotechnology at K. S. Rangasamy College of Technology, Tiruchengode, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu, India. He has published around 85 papers in various national and international journals, 7 patents and authored 15 text books. He is the recipient of Young Scientist Award offered by Ministry of Science and Technology, New Delhi, India.
Abstract:
Interaction between the pathogen Phomopsis theae and bacterial antagonist namely Pseudomonas fluorescence, fungal antagonist like Trichoderma atroviride and actinomycetes antagonist namely Streptomyces sannanensis was studied under in vitro condition. Antibiosis was performed to analyze the secondary metabolites produced which have the antagonistic properties for the pathogenic agents used in the present study. The biocontrol agents used were evaluated against C. theae in both solid media and liquid media to determine the suppressing growth rate. The result indicated that actinomycete antagonist was found to be effective when compared to the bacterial and fungal antagonist respectively in terms of pathogen’s growth suppression and further the mix of consortia served to be most effective. The growth inhibition rate recorded was 85.5% in actinomycete antagonist treated plates and 77.3 and 68.8% in bacterial and fungal treated Petri plates; respectively against the pathogen. After laboratory screening, attempts were made to evaluate the efficacy of these biocontrol agents for controlling red root rot disease of tea plants. Among the thirteen treatments tested, soil drenching of carbendazim was superior in terms of reducing red root rot incidence followed by combination of S. sannanensis and T. atroviride recorded in two consecutive field experiments. In contrast, the maximum green leaf yield and plant growth was achieved in soil application of these biocontrol agents. However, the performance of this dual combination of biocontrol agents was on par with systemic fungicide in terms of disease control. The biometric, physiological and biochemical parameters were considerably increased in biologically treated plants when compared to untreated control. Moreover, studies were undertaken to investigate the effect of abiotic and abiotic factors on the survival rate biocontrol agents in soils which revealed all the tested bioagents could survive well in tea soils as well as barks. The present study may be concluded that biocontrol agents could be a possible alternative control measures for the control of P. theae, which in turn reduces the organic chemical residual risk in made tea and it totally improves the tea ecosystem.
Ramesh S Bhat
University of Agricultural Sciences, India
Title: Validation of late leaf spot and rust resistance linked markers using near isogenic lines derived from heterogeneous inbred families in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L)
Biography:
Ramesh S Bhat is currently working at University of Agricultural Sciences, India. International experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study and interests reflect in wide range of publications in various national and international journals
Abstract:
Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L) is an important oilseed crop severely affected by foliar diseases like late leaf spot (LLS) and rust. Molecular markers linked to LLS and rust resistance will be of immense use in complimenting conventional breeding for diseases resistance in peanut. Validation of markers linked to LLS and rust resistance is a pre-requisite for their use in Marker Assisted Breeding to develop resistant cultivars. Near isogenic lines (NILs) are the most preferred genetic stocks to validate the markers. The present investigation was aimed to develop NILs from heterogeneous inbred families (HIFs) to validate markers linked to LLS and rust resistance. NILs were developed from HIFs of TAG 24×GPBD 4 and TG 26×GPBD 4. The sets of plants belonging to the same HIF but differing significantly in LLS and/or rust resistance but not for other morphological and productivity traits were regarded as NILs. A total of 30 rust resistant, 34 rust susceptible, 21 LLS resistant and 25 LLS susceptible lines were isolated from TAG 24×GPBD 4 and TG 26×GPBD 4. Largely, rust/LLS resistant NILs had GPBD 4-type allele and susceptible NILs carried either TAG 24 or TG 26-type allele at the three SSR loci (IPAHM103, GM1536 and GM2301) linked to a common genomic region governing LLS and rust resistance. Comparison of the remaining genomic regions between the NILs originating from each of the HIFs using a large number of background markers indicated a considerably high genome similarity. These NILs are useful in fine mapping to identify candidate genes governing LLS and/or rust resistance.
Thulasi G. Pillai
Kerala Forest Research Institute, Kerala
Title: Anticancer activity of the true endophytic fungi isolated from Aerva lanata occurring in Western Ghats
Biography:
Thulasi G. Pillai is working at department of Forest Pathology in Forest Health Division at Kerala Forest Research Institute located in Kerala. International experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study and interests reflect in wide range of publications in various national and international journals
Abstract:
True endophytic fungi was isolated from Aerva lanata, a perennial herb in the Amaranthaceae family of the genus Aerva, native to Asia, Africa, and Australia for the period 2012-2014. A total of 38 cultures were obtained from leaves, stem and root. Out of the 38 cultures we identified the true endophytes associated with the plant. The organism was identified to be Fusarium equiseti by molecular methods. Secondary metabolites were isolated by culturing the organism in potato dextrose broth. Compounds were isolated, purified and characterised using standard methods by chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques. The compounds were characterised to be terpenoids. The therapeutic potentials of the compounds were investigated by cytotoxicity, cell cycle analysis and anticancer activity in human cervical cancer cell lines. The results of the study indicates that the compound isolated from F.equiseti possess significant cytotoxic and anticancer activity in human cervical cancer cell lines. Fusarium is a large genus of filamentous fungi belonging to class sordariomycetes which are distributed in soil and in association with plants, mostly symptomless. True endophytes have been evolving with the host for millions of years. This organism can have an important role in the survival and protection of the plant against harsh environment and adverse conditions.
Shaikhul Islam
EXIM Bank Agricultural University Bangladesh (EBAUB), Bangladesh
Title: Endophytic PGPR Isolates from Cucumber Rhizosphere Ensure Enhanced Plant Growth and Suppress Phytophthora Blight of Cucumber
Biography:
Shaikhul Islam has completed his MS (By Research) in Plant Pathology from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University in 2012. At present he is serving as a Lecturer (Department of Plant Pathology) in EXIM Bank Agricultural University, Bangladesh (EBAUB). His main research interests focuses on Molecular plant-microbe interactions, Epidemiology and management of Oomycetes phytopathogens, Biological control; Microbial bio-pesticides etc.
Abstract:
Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) are the rhizosphere bacteria that may be utilized to augment plant growth and subdue plant diseases. The objectives of this study were to isolate and characterize PGPR indigenous to cucumber rhizosphere in Bangladesh, and to evaluate their ability to suppress Phytophthora crown rot in cucumber. A total of sixty six isolates were isolated, out of which ten (PPB1, PPB2, PPB3, PPB4, PPB5, PPB8, PPB9, PPB10, PPB11 and PPB12) were chosen based on their in vitro plant growth promoting traits and antagonism of phytopathogens. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA sequences identified these isolates as new strains of Pseudomonas stutzeri, Bacillus subtilis, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia and B. amyloliquefaciens. The selected isolates produced high levels (26.78 to 51.28 μg mL−1) of indole-3-acetic acid, while significant acetylene reduction activities (1.79 to 4.9 µmole C2H4 mg-1 protein h-1) were witnessed in eight isolates. PGPR treatment of cucumber seeds demonstrated significantly higher germination; enhanced seedling vigor, growth, and N content in root and shoot tissue compared to non-treated control plants. All selected isolates successfully colonized the cucumber roots. Moreover, treating cucumber seeds with these isolates significantly inhibited Phytophthora crown rot caused by Phytophthora capsici, and characteristic morphological alterations in Ph. capsici hyphae that grew towards PGPR colonies were detected. Since these PGPR inoculants had revealed numerous traits advantageous to the host plants, they may be applied in the development of novel, eco-friendly, and effective seed treatments as an alternative to chemical fungicides.
- Track 5: Plant Genomics Applications Track 12: Plant Physiology Track 13: Plant Pathology
Location: Quay 2 Main Hall
Chair
Grace Chen
USDA-Western Regional Research Center, USA
Co-Chair
Jasdeep Chatrath Padaria
National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi, India
Session Introduction
Xue He
Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology,CAS ,China
Title: The nitrate inducible NAC transcription factor TaNAC2-5A controls nitrate response and increases wheat yield
Time : 10:30-10:50
Biography:
Dr.He has completed his PhD from China Agriculture University in 2007, then she joined the Tong Fellow at Center for Molecular Agrobiology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her interest focuses on the genetic improvement of nitrogen use efficiency of wheat. She has published their research results in Plant J, Plant Physiol, New Phytol,etc.
Abstract:
Nitrate is a major nitrogen resource for cereal crops, thus understanding nitrate signaling in cereal crops is valuable for engineering crops with improved nitrogen use efficiency. Although several regulators have been identified in nitrate sensing and signaling in Arabidopsis, the equivalent information in cereals is missing. Here, we isolated a nitrate inducible and cereal specific NAC transcription factor TaNAC2-5A from wheat (Triticum aestivum). CHIP-SEQ (Chromatin Immunoprecipitation based Sequencing) dates indicated that TaNAC2-5A could bind to the genes encoding nitrate transporter and glutamine synthetase and the genes involving auxin signaling pathway. And a RING Zinc-finger protein that was screened by yeast two-hybrid may regulate the response of TaNAC2-5A to nitrate. Overexpression of TaNAC2-5A in wheat enhanced root growth and nitrate influx rate and hence increase root ability to acquire nitrogen. Further, we found that TaNAC2-5A over-expressing transgenic wheat lines had higher grain yield and higher nitrogen accumulation in aerial parts and allocated more nitrogen in grains in a field experiment. These results suggest that TaNAC2-5A is involved in nitrate signaling and show that it is an exciting gene resource for breeding crops with more efficient use of fertilizer.
Yong Wang
Shandong Agricultural University, China
Title: Molecular regulation of nitrate in plants
Time : 10:50-11:10
Biography:
Yong Wang obtained his Ph.D degree from University of Lausanne in Switzerland in 2006 and did postdoctoral studies from the University of California, San Diego in USA during 2006.1-2010.11. Since Nov. 2010, he has been working as a professor at Shandong Agricultural University in China. He has published many papers in reputed journals including “the Plant Cell”, “Plant Physiology” etc.
Abstract:
We identified a novel gene named NITRATE REGULATORY GENE 2 (NRG2) by using forward genetics, which mediates nitrate signaling in Arabidopsis. nrg2 mutants showed inhibited induction of nitrate-responsive genes after nitrate treatment by an ammonium-independent mechanism. The nitrate content in roots was significantly lower in the mutants than in WT, which may have resulted from reduced expression of NRT1.1 and up-regulation of NRT1.8. Genetic and molecular data suggest that NRG2 functions upstream of NRT1.1 in nitrate signaling. Furthermore, NRG2 directly interacts with NLP7 in the nucleus, but does not affect the nuclear retention of NLP7 in the presence of nitrate. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that genes involved in four nitrogen-related clusters were differentially expressed in the nrg2 mutants. A nitrogen -compound-transport cluster was regulated by both NRG2 and NRT1.1, while no nitrogen-related clusters showed regulation by both NRG2 and NLP7. Thus, NRG2 plays a key role in nitrate regulation in part through modulating NRT1.1 expression and may function with NLP7 via their physical interaction. NRG2 family consists of 16 members and each protein contains two uncharacterized functional domains: DUF630 and DUF632. We further investigated the role of NRG2.10 and NRG2.15 in regulating nitrate signaling in Arabidopsis. The results showed that the induction of nitrate-responsive genes after nitrate treatments and the nitrate accumulation in seedlings were affected in both nrg2.10 and nrg2.15 mutants. These findings demonstrate that NRG2 family members play important roles in nitrate signaling.
Robert Saxon Brueggeman
North Dakota State University, USA
Title: The rpg4/Rpg5 integrated decoy resistance to wheat stem rust race TTKSK in barley: Towards effector identification
Time : 11:10-11:30
Biography:
Robert Saxon Brueggeman has completed his PhD in 2009 from Washington State University and Postdoctoral studies also from Washington State University Department of Crop and Soil Science. He is currently an Associate Professor at North Dakota State University as the Barley Pathologist/Molecular Geneticist. He has published more than 32 papers in reputed journals covering the topics of the cloning and characterization of barley disease resistance genes and fungal effectors.
Abstract:
The barley rpg4/Rpg5 locus confers resistance against wheat stem rust caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt) including race TTKSK (A.K.A. Ug99). The 70 kb region harbors two NLR R-genes, Rpg5 and HvRga1 that are required together for resistance. HvRga1 and Rpg5 contain typical NLR resistance-protein structure; however, Rpg5 has an additional C-terminal serine threonine protein kinase (STPK) domain. The transcription factor, HvVOZ1 was identified by yeast-two-hybrid of a library constructed from RNA of the rpg4/Rpg5+ line Q21861; 48 hours post inoculation, utilizing the Rpg5-STPK domain as bait. We hypothesize that the Rpg5-STPK acts as an integrated decoy that HvVOZ1 binds to negatively regulate defense activation or binds after activation as part of a signaling complex. The second NLR, HvRga1, may guard theHvVOZ1-Rpg5 interaction or surveil the Rpg5-STPK domain for Pgtrpg4/Rpg5-Avr (r45-Avr) effector manipulation. Thus, HvRga1 is possibly the guard that detects manipulation of the Rpg5 STPK or possibly HvVOZ1 by the r45-Avr effector eliciting a strong effector triggered immunity defense response. The r45-Avr needs to be identified to thoroughly investigate these mechanisms and test our hypothesis. To accomplish this a panel of 37 wheat stem rust isolates collected in North Dakota, many with differential race typing on the wheat differentials and differential reactions on rpg4/Rpg5 and Rpg1 in barley were genotyped using restriction site associated DNA-genotyping-by-sequencing (RAD-GBS). This RAD-GBS produced 4,919 informative SNPs and this initial genotyping was used to select 24 diverse isolates (16 avrRpg4/rpg5 and 8 Avrrpg4/Rpg5+) that were used to conduct in planta RNA-seq analysis during Pgt colonization 5 days post inoculation on the susceptible barley cultivar Harrington. The RNA-seq data was utilized to identify ~181,000 variant calls (SNPs and indels) within these Puccinia graminis transcriptomes during the infection process. The robust genotyping and phenotyping on these diverse differential isolates should allow us to identify candidate r45-Avr genes utilizing association mapping.
Marie Umber
French National Institute for Agronomic Research, French West Indies
Title: Presence of endogenous Badnavirus sequences in yam genome: Implication for tropical crops exchange
Time : 11:30-11:50
Biography:
Marie Umber has completed her PhD from Strasbourg University in France and Postdoctoral studies in Guadeloupe (French West Indies), working on endogenous viral sequences in yam and banana. Since 2013, she is the person in charge of the viral sanitation of the yam collection from the Biological Resources Centre for Tropical Plants (CRB-PT) in the French National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA).
Abstract:
The French West Indies Biological Resources Centre for Tropical Plants (CRB-PT) maintains several germplasm collections of tropical crops and wild relatives, including a collection of more than 450 yam accessions (Dioscorea spp). The purpose of this Centre is to conserve and distribute virus-free germplasm to end users. Yam is the third most important staple food crops in French Caribbean islands, after banana and sugarcane. Cultivation of this crop is almost exclusively by vegetative propagation, which presents challenges in the sharing and exchange of plant material because of the vertical transmission of viruses. To this aim, virus populations infecting conserved accessions are characterized and appropriate detection tools are created or optimized, then implemented for the sanitation of infected germplasm. Several Badnavirus species have been reported in yams. Recently, endogenous Dioscorea badnaviral sequences (eDBVs) were described in the genome of African yams of the D. cayenensis subsp., rotundata complex. The genome of the other two main cultivated yam species, D. alata and D. trifida has also been investigated by the analysis of BAC libraries. The major constraint of these sequences is to interfere with Badnavirus PCR-based detection methods and prevent from the accurate diagnostic of Badnavirus in yams. Moreover the occurrence of endogenous sequences from extant Badnavirus species in yams should suggest that some eDBVs could be infectious as some eBSV (endogenous Banana streak virus) sequences in banana. Conversely, molecular evidence supporting the role of these EVEs (endogenous viral elements) in antiviral defense will also be presented.
Julian Chen
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
Title: Plant Genetics, Molecular Biology and Genetics
Time : 11:50-12:10
Biography:
Julian Chen has completed her PhD at Graduate School & Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IPP-CAAS). She is a Group Leader of Wheat Insect Pest Research Group, IPP-CAAS. She has published more than 110 papers in reputed peer-review journals.
Abstract:
Olfaction is the essential sense of insect’s feeding and mating. It achieves semiochemical and pheromone perception through olfactory pathway which coupled components by expressing series olfactory genes, distributing in antenna. transcriptome of antenna is a good way to understand the complicated olfactory system components. Analysis of chemical sensing system is a crucial basic work for studying the olfactory physiology of aphids and developing biological control technologies. In this study, we sequenced winged and wingless antennae transcriptome of Sitobion avenae (Fabricius), one of the most serious pests of cereals using IlluminaHiSeqTM2500/MiseqTM technology and Trinity assembly. A total of 133,331 unigenes were obtained with an average length of 594 bp. To annotate the transcripts, we searched against the Nr, Nt, Pfam, KOG/COG, Swiss-prot, KEGG and GO databases and 100,345 unigenes (75.26%) were annotated in at least one database. There were 1,517genes (1,107 up-regulated and 410 down-regulated genes) differentially expressed between wingless and winged antennae, respectively. Nine of them are associated with odour binding pathway. 13 OBPs, 5 CSPs genes were identified from S. avenae. All of these transcripts have the typical structural features of insect (six conserved cysteines for OBPs and 4 for CSPs). Through multiple comparisons phylogenetic tree constructed of OBPs across several aphids, we can see that there is a high similarity between orthologs within a range of aphid species. Besides, 48 Ors (odorant receptors) were annotated as well and further studies are in progress.
Juliana Janet R Martin-Puzon
University of the Philippines, Philippines
Title: Phytochemical constituents and bioactive properties of Glinus oppositifolius (L) Aug. DC., against bacterial pathogens
Time : 12:10-12:30
Biography:
Dr. Juliana Janet Martin-Puzon is currently an Assistant Professor in the Institute of Biology, College of Science, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City. She heads the Plant Physiology Laboratory of this university. She took both her MS in Botany and PhD in Biology degrees (major in Plant Physiology) in University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City; and, her BS degree in Biology major in Microbiology at University of the Philippines Los Baños. Dr. Puzon completed a research fellowship under the University of the Philippines - Natural Sciences Research Institute -Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Agricultural Research (UP-NSRI/DA-BAR) Post-Doctoral and Senior Scientist Research Fellowship Program. Her research project is entitled “Antimicrobial and Antioxidant Properties of Glinus oppositifolius (L.) Aug. DC, a Promising Source of Bioactive Metabolites.” She has published numerous scientific papers in international peer-reviewed journals dealing on her research interests, namely, plant and cell physiology, plant stress physiology, phytoremediaion, secondary metabolism (natural products and their bioactivities) and controls of plant growth and development. Notably, she has presented her works through platform and poster presentations in various conferences, both internationally and locally. She has given local seminar-workshops emphasizing on research methods in physiology, particularly the assessment of heavy metal stress tolerance in plants, as well as the bioactive properties of certain Philippine medicinal plants. She also serves as a referee of papers dealing with her areas of expertise submitted for publication in scientific journals
Abstract:
This study aimed to determine the presence of bioactive phytochemical constituents and evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activities of Glinus oppositifolius or carpet weed, a plant valued for its use in traditional medicine and as a vegetable. The leaves, stems and roots were extracted using chloroform, ethanol and methanol. Phytochemical screening revealed that the entire G. oppositifolius plant, i.e., roots, stems and leaves, is a rich source of alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, sterols, tannins and triterpenes. The antibacterial activity of the leaf and stem extracts were evaluated through disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration and bactericidal concentration assays against methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin resistant Enterococcus (VRE), extended spectrum β-lactamase producing (ESβL+), carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and metallo-β-lactamase producing (MβL+) Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. The leaf extracts revealed antibacterial activities, inhibiting the growth of non resistant and multidrug resistant (MDR) strains of the Gram negative bacteria E. coli, P. aeruginosa and A. baumanii. In conclusion, the various biological activities of G. oppositifolius, including its antibacterial activity, are due to the presence of diverse bioactive secondary metabolites. The presence of phytochemical compounds in G. oppositifolius is scientific evidence on its use for treatment of many ailments. Thus, the results demonstrate the great potential of the plant as a new, alternative source of antimicrobials and other components with therapeutic value.
Branka Javornik
Branka Javornik, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Title: Induced defense responses in hop-Verticillium interactions as revealed by proteomic and transcriptomic analysis
Time : 12:30-12:50
Biography:
Branka Javornik is working at Genetics & Biotechnology as Head of Biotechnology Studies in Biotechnical Faculty at University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. International experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study and interests reflect in wide range of publications in various national and international journals
Abstract:
Verticillium wilt caused by soil borne vascular tissue infecting species of the Verticillium genus is a devastating disease in many crops. Host resistance and phytosanitary measures are the best options for controlling the disease so elucidation of plant wilt resistance can undoubtedly enhance resistance breeding. We study Verticillium wilt in hop caused by a highly virulent strain of V. nonalfalfae, which has recently become a serious threat to hop production in Europe. The first QTL for hop resistance against Verticillium wilt has been identified, opening up possibilities for investigation of the genetic basis of hop resistance source, as well as markers development and their exploitation in MAS resistant breeding. Transcriptomics and proteomics were employed in a time course experiment comparing infected and control plants of resistant and susceptible hop cultivars to characterize hop-Verticillium interactions. The expression patterns of most studied genes and the decline of fungal biomass in the infected resistant cultivar suggest that the defense response in the resistant cultivar is strong enough at 20 dpi to restrict further fungus colonization. The results so far have shown strong expression of genes encoding PR proteins in both interactions, strong up regulation of genes implicated in ubiquitination and vesicle trafficking in the incompatible interaction and their down regulation in susceptible plants. Additionally, the identification and high abundance of two mannose/glucose specific lectin isoforms and dehydrins present only in the roots of the resistant cultivar implies a putative function of these proteins in hop resistance against V. nonalfalfae.
Grace Chen
Agricultural Research Service, USA
Title: Application of genomic tools for Lesquerella crop improvement
Time : 12:50-13:10
Biography:
Grace Chen has obtained her PhD from University of Wisconsin at Madison and her Postdoctoral studies from University of California, Plant Gene Expression Center. She has published more than 44 papers in reputed journals and she is globally recognized as an expert on oilseed biotechnology.
Abstract:
Lesquerella, a potential new industrial oilseed crop is valued for its unusual hydroxy fatty acid (20:1 OH) which can be used as raw materials for numerous industrial products, such as lubricants, plasticizers and surfactants. As a step towards genetic engineering of Lesquerella, we explored a Lesquerella seed transcriptome that generated 651 mega bases of raw sequences, 59,914 transcripts and 26,995 unique genes. These unique genes were found to represent all known seed expressed genes. Based on Arabidopsis acyl-lipid metabolism database, we identified 615 Lesquerella genes for all known pathways in acyl-lipid metabolism. Using quantitative real-time PCR assays, we characterized the expression profiles of 15 key genes involved in oil biosynthesis in various tissues of Lesquerella. Our results provide critical information for future design of genetic engineering experiments to control HFA production in plants.
Ana Maria Benko-Iseppon
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco,Brazil
Title: Plant response to biotic stress: insights from transcriptomics and structural genomics
Time : 13:40-14:00
Biography:
Biologist, with a Ph.D. in Plant Genetics at the University of Vienna, Austria and post-doctorate in the area of Plant Molecular Biology, at the University of Frankfurt. Actually working as Full Professor in the Department of Genetics, Federal University of Pernambuco, as head of the Laboratory of Plant Genetics Biotechnology. Dr. Benko-Iseppon presents experience in the field of plant genetics, with emphasis on plant molecular biology, genomics, transcriptomics, and bioinformatics, as well as in cytogenetics, genetic mapping in plants and bioprospection of therapeutic molecules from plants.
Abstract:
The comprehension of the plant response to pathogen attack is essential for the development of strategies to improve resistance and diminish yield losses. Besides the desired resistance, the crosstalk between plant reaction to biotic and abiotic stresses is also a central question, especially considering the predicted global warming scenario. In this regard, the use of strategies involving omics analysis and bioinformatics can bring interesting evidence, useful for molecular breeding, crop selection and generation of genetically modified plants. Our group has been studying key gene families associated to plant defense in different plant groups including crops (e.g. cowpea, soybean, castor bean, grape, etc.) and medicinal plants with a focus on the families Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, and Curcubitaceae, using transcriptomics (RNA-Seq, RT-qPCR, transgenesis) and bioinformatics approaches. Gene families studied include R (Resistance), PR (Pathogen Related), TF (Transcription Factors) and Kinases, evaluated under biotic (pathogen inoculation) and abiotic (water deficit and salinity) stresses. Besides the expression profiling, aspects of gene and protein structure and genomic evolution have been analyzed. In the case of resistant or tolerant plants (depending on the stress type), a constitutive or earlier induction of given genes has been recognized, indicating that the early stress perception and the precocious induction of other stress-associated genes is a key defense mechanism. Particularly for some TF, PR, and Kinase genes, a dual role in response to biotic and abiotic stresses has also been recognized.
Shashi Kumar
International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India
Title: Compartmentalized metabolic engineering of plant for rational drug biosynthesis and oral delivery of whole plant material facilitated cost effective malaria treatment
Time : 14:00-14:20
Biography:
Shashi Kumar is a Team Leader at ICGEB in New Delhi, India. He has graduated in Genetics from the University of Delhi, 1998, Postdoctoral research at University of Virginia, University of Central Florida, University of California Berkeley and Scientist at Yulex Inc., USA and USDA, Albany, USA. He has participated in establishing the “Centre for Advanced Bio-Energy Research” supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. His area of interests include metabolic engineering for drug biosynthesis, metabolic engineering of rubber plant for hypoallergenic latex, http://plantgenomics.conferenceseries.com/, development of sustainable algal biofuel technology and genetic engineering of marine algae for higher lipid and biomass.
Abstract:
The rapid progression of malarial illness and drug-resistant parasites threatens nearly half the global population. Artemisinin, a drug native to Artemisia annua, is highly effective against drug-resistant malarial parasites. Insufficient supply of artemisinin and lack of an anti-malarial vaccine requires development of new alternative sources of production. Furthermore, prohibitively expensive purification process underscores the need for alternative ways of drug delivery. In this study, the chloroplast genome of tobacco was engineered to express the yeast mevalonate (MEV) biosynthetic pathway. The dihydroartemisinic acid (DHAA) biosynthetic pathway was expressed in the same plant via the nuclear genome transformation. Double transgenic (DT) lines with confirmed transgene integration/expression showed 2-3 folds increase in IPP. A high level of an intermediate volatile metabolite amorphadiene (committed precursor to artemisinin) targeted to mitochondria was detected by GC-MS. Efficient conversion of DHAA to artemisinin by photo-oxidation was confirmed by LC-MS/MS analysis. The DT lines grew normally, flowered and set seeds like untransformed plants. The partially purified artemisinin extracts from DT leaves inhibited in vitro growth progression of red blood cells (RBCs) infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Most importantly, oral feeding of dried plant cells expressing artemisinin reduced the parasitemia levels in challenged mice, facilitating low cost production and delivery of this important life-saving drug. Thus, metabolic engineering utilizing different cellular compartments in plant cells and a synergistic drug delivery approach utilizing bioencapsulation is a novel concept that could be employed in a number of other metabolite based drug studies.
Ayyanagouda Patil
University of Agricultural Sciences, India
Title: Genome-wide association for pollen viability and silk receptivity under heat stress in tropical maize
Time : 14:20-14:40
Biography:
Ayyanagouda Patil has completed his Masters in Genetics and Plant breeding from University of Agricultural Sciences, India and later pursued his Doctoral degree in the department of Plant Biotechnology. He has worked extensively on genomics & transcriptomics plant improvement for his doctoral studies. He has later joined the University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur as an Assistant Professor of Biotechnology in the year 2011. He was nominated as Head of the newly opened department of Molecular Biology and Agricultural Biotechnology in University of Agricultural Sciences, Raichur on 2014 and continuing till date. He is guiding three postdoctoral students and Advisory Member for five doctoral students. He has published more than 25 research papers and abstracts.
Abstract:
Heat stress is a one of the major abiotic stresses which has profound impact on pollen viability and silk receptivity intern affect maize yields. Heat stable lines can be identified based on pollen viability and silk receptivity under high temperature condition. The present study is first of its kind to conduct genome wide association study for identification of genomic loci associated with pollen viability and silk receptivity under heat stress in tropical maize using genotyping by sequence data (GBS) with 239,594 SNP markers (MAF≥0.05) used for marker trait association in a panel of maize inbred lines. The pollen viability and silk receptivity of the inbred lines was assessed based on seed set percent. Association analysis was conducted using a mixed linear model involving both population structure and kinship to control false positives. The average physical distance between pairs of markers was 27.7 kb with mean LD estimation (r2) of 0.36 across genome and LD decay of 6.34 kb at r2=0.2. Out of 239,594 SNPs, 44 SNPs were significantly (P≤0.0001) associated with pollen viability and 69 SNPs were significantly associated with silk receptivity under heat stress. Candidate gene based analysis was used to predict the putative function of the associated genes. Of the many SNP makers, the gene associated with SNP marker (S6_156252525) is homologue of rice Osg1 gene which code for β-1,3-glucanases associated with pollen fertility. The SNP (S10_120824169) for silk receptivity was associated with protein phosphatase 2C, which has an important role in phosphorylation/dephosphorylation of heat shock proteins, possibly promoting the silk to survive under high temperatures. The SNP marker S3_220855063 was found to be associated with hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins, which plays an important role pollen tube and silk growth. These SNP markers linked to the functionality of silk and pollen may be the ideal candidate for developing heat tolerant hybrids.
Jasdeep Chatrath Padaria
National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi
Title: Transcriptome Profiling for Identifying Genes to Develope Abiotic Stress Tolerant Transgenic Wheat
Time : 14:40-15:00
Biography:
Dr Jasdeep Chatrath Padaria has completed her PhD from Indian Agricultural Research Institute and postdoctoral studies in the area of Gene expression profiling with respect to abiotic stress tolerance at Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture,Purdue University, USA. She is the working as Principal Scientist in the area of biotechnology and climate change at National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, a premier institute in the area of plant molecular biology and biotechnology.She has published more than 25 papers in reputed journals and has guided 15 MSc and PhD students.The present study involved identification of abiotic stress responsive genes from tolerant plant systems as Penniseteum glaucum, Triticum aestivum , Ziziphus nummularia and Prosopis cineraria using Roche 454 and Illumina sequencing platforms. De novo assembly and transcriptome annotations were preformed to have insight about genes, gene family and transcriptional factors related to abiotic stress. Further analysis for change in expression level of known and unknown genes, SNP detection and SSR marker detection have been carried out to identify stress responsive genes and stress tolerance linked markers. A few stress responsive genes as NAC, P5CS, WRKY, HSP, MYB, ASR, DREB etc have been identified and characterized. These genes are further functionally validated and have been transformed in elite Indian bread wheat for development of transgenic wheat tolerant to abiotic stress.
Abstract:
Wheat (Triticum sp.) stands as the second largest staple crop of the world with 17% of the total cultivatable land under wheat production. Global annual wheat production needs to be increased at quantum leaps from the present production of more than 650 million metric tonnes so as to feed the ever burgeoning world population. Unfortunately, with the changing global climate, various abiotic stresses further hamper the wheat productivity. Development of abiotic stress tolerant cultivars is necessary to achieve the goal of enhanced wheat productivity. With the available gene pool within a species becoming limited, it becomes imperative that we search genes responsible for abiotic stress tolerance across the species, genus and even kingdom and using r- DNA technology develop transgenic wheat tolerant to abiotic stresses. The present study involved identification of abiotic stress responsive genes from tolerant plant systems as Penniseteum glaucum, Triticum aestivum , Ziziphus nummularia and Prosopis cineraria using Roche 454 and Illumina sequencing platforms. De novo assembly and transcriptome annotations were preformed to have insight about genes, gene family and transcriptional factors related to abiotic stress. Further analysis for change in expression level of known and unknown genes, SNP detection and SSR marker detection have been carried out to identify stress responsive genes and stress tolerance linked markers. A few stress responsive genes as NAC, P5CS, WRKY, HSP, MYB, ASR, DREB etc have been identified and characterized. These genes are further functionally validated and have been transformed in elite Indian bread wheat for development of transgenic wheat tolerant to abiotic stress.
Liang Chen
Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,China
Title: Differential Metabolic Profiles and Transcriptomic Profiles during Different Color Stages of Albino Tea Plant (Camellia sinensis).
Time : 15:00-15:20
Biography:
Professor Liang Chen has completed his PhD on Tea Science from Zhejiang University, China and postdoctoral studies from Cornell University, USA. Now, he is the associate director of National Center for Tea Improvement, TRICAAS. He has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.
Abstract:
‘Anji Baicha’ is an elite albino tea cultivar of very high quality and popularity in China, with white shoots at low air temperature and green shoots at high temperature in early spring. Metabolomic analyses found that the main differential metabolic pathways between the albescent stage and the green stage included carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms and the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. Compared with the green stage, the carbohydrate and amino acid metabolic pathways were disturbed during the albescent stages. There were higher levels of β-carotene and theanine but lower level of chlorophyll a in the white stage than in the green stage. During the albescent stages, the sugar (fructofuranose), sugar derivative (glucose-1-phosphate) and epicatechin concentrations decreased, whereas the amino acid (mainly glycine, serine, tryptophan, citrulline, glutamine, proline, and valine) concentrations increased. Transcriptomic analyses were applied to analyze the expression profiles changes in the different color stages. The transcriptomes of the plant leaves were highly divergent between different color stages, as approximately three-quarters of all unigenes were differentially expressed between different color stages. Functional classification based on Gene Ontology enrichment and KEGG enrichment analyses revealed that these differentially expressed unigenes were mainly involved in metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms. Furthermore, differentially expressed unigenes involved in carotenoid biosynthesis, chlorophyll biosynthesis, and theanine biosynthesis were identified. These results provide a further understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying albino phenomena.
Anna-Maria Botha
Stellenbosch University,South Africa
Title: Studying host-insect interactions using viral induced gene silencing and siRNA
Time : 15:20-15:40
Biography:
Anna-Maria Botha-Oberholster (née Botha) received training in Plant Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel and the Salk Institute of Biological Science, USA. From 1994, she actively mentored students and has been affiliated to several academic institutions globally. Highlights in her career spanning more than 20 years, include representing Africa at the initiation meeting that started the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium in Washington DC, in 2004 and at IBSA (now BRICS) in Brazil in 2008. Her research outputs include more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in accredited international journals, 5 book chapters, numerous peer-reviewed conference proceedings, technical reports and popular articles. Her Cereal
Abstract:
Wheat Dn genes afford resistance to the economically important pest, Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov, Russian wheat aphid, RWA) and have been the topic of transcriptomic and proteomic studies aimed at unravelling the pathways involved in resistance. However, despite numerous efforts to isolate these Dn genes, none of them had been cloned and sequenced and this can partly be ascribed to the complexity and size of the bread wheat genome, as well as the apparent centromeric location of these genes. To date, several R-gene targets were investigated using viral induced gene silencing (VIGs) in wheat. However, the availability of the complete genome of the pest has opened up new avenues of study to unravel the complex interaction between these organisms.The current study explores both avenues. Candidate plant resistance genes were silenced in planta and aphid response assessed, while candidate aphid effectors were also delivered in planta to assess their respective functions during host-pest interactions. In all cases, the aphids were allowed to feed, where after reproduction was recorded. The ectopic expression of the gene targets was also quantified using RT-PCR analysis.
Zhixi Tian
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Title: Dissection of the network underlying agronomic traits in soybean
Time : 15:55-16:15
Biography:
Zhixi Tian completed his PhD from Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and postdoctoral studies from Purdue University, United State of America. He is a principle investigator of Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology. His research interesting focus on functional genomics and genetics of soybean. His lab will combine association mapping, QTL mapping, map-based cloning along with comparative genomic to identify the underlying network controlling important agronomical traits and to apply them into soybean breeding. He has published more than 27 papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
Many agronomically important traits exhibit modularity and tend to be tightly integrated. The understanding of how traits become associated or correlated is essential in the improvement of complex traits. Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) is a major crop of agronomic importance as the predominant source of animal feed protein and cooking oil, which was domesticated from wild soybean (G. soja Sieb. & Zucc.) in China 5,000 years ago. Understanding soybean domestication and improvement and a comprehensive dissection of the genetic basis of agronomic traits is important for soybean improvement. By analysis of several hundred resequenced wild, landrace and improved soybean accessions, we detect 230 selective sweeps and 162 selected copy number variants. Combined with previous quantitative trait loci (QTL) information, we find that, of the 230 selected regions, 96 correlate with reported oil QTLs and 21 contain fatty acid biosynthesis genes 96 of which correlate with reported oil QTLs. Moreover, we detect more than two thousands association signals via a comprehensive GWAS for dozens of agronomic traits. Through modeling analyses, we find that amount of association sites are tightly linked and form a complex network to regulate the modularity of different complex traits. This study provides valuable resources for genomics-enabled improvements in soybean molecular breeding.
Eviatar Nevo
University of Haifa, Israel
Title: Adaptive ecological incipient sympatric speciation of wild barley at
Time : 16:15-16:35
Biography:
Eviatar Nevo has worked at University of Haifa, Israel. International experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. Research interests reflect in his/her wide range of publications in various national and international journals
Abstract:
Sympatric speciation (SS), the origin of new species within a free breeding population or contiguous populations has been under continuous controversy since first proposed by Darwin in his Origin. "Evolution Canyon" (EC) at Mount Carmel, Israel has been a fruitful microclimatic natural model for unraveling incipient adaptive ecological sympatric speciation across life from bacteria through plants and animals. EC consists of hot and dry, south facing, savannoid "African" slope (AS) abutting with a cool and humid, north-facing, forested "European" slope, separated on average by 250 meters. Here, I describe incipient adaptive SS in wild barley, Hordeum spontaneum, the progenitor of all world cultivated barley at EC, based on inter-slope divergent adaptive complexes, inferior inter-slope crosses than intra-slope crosses and sharply divergent RNA-seq and whole genome inter-slope contrasts. Inter-slope adaptive complexes include phenotypically, interslope divergent flowering time, early at AS and late at ES and genotypically, higher genetic polymorphism of allozyme and DNA diversities on AS, higher drought resistance on AS, based on dehydrins, rhizosphere bacteria, and EibiI gene and higher resistance against rust fungi on ES. Wild barley at EC was domesticated by humans in Neolithic times and harbors important abiotic and biotic genetic resources for future cultivated barley improvement.
MD. MONIRUL ISLAM
ACI-RDA R&D Station, Bangladesh, India
Title: SCREENING OF SALT TOLERANT RICE MUTANTS /VARIETIES USING SSR MARKERS AT SEEDLING STAGE
Biography:
MD. MONIRUL ISLAM has completed his M.S in Biotechnology at the age of 28 years from Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh. He has published more than 5 papers in reputed journals.
Abstract:
Molecular markers especially, microsatellite or simple sequence repeats (SSRs) was the marker aided selection (MAS) technique utilized to determine salinity tolerance in rice. It accelerates rice breeding process by significantly improving selection efficiency. Fourty varieties were used to study the effect of salt stress on seedling growth and efficiency of SSR markers for the screening of salt tolerant varieties. Phenotyping of the varieties at the seedling stage was done using salinized (EC=12ds/m) culture solution under controlled conditions at the Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) glasshouse. Salt tolerant varieties showed stunted growth with the reduction of leaf area over the varieties of non-saline conditions. The seedlings grown from the normal seeds were vigorous than the seedlings from the seeds of saline conditions. This result indicated the impediment of seed vigor due to salt stress. The salt tolerant varieties from saline conditions were used to evaluate the efficiency of salt stress linked markers viz., RM231, RM24, RM334, RM32 and RM219 which were selected from the previous studies at IRRI in salinity screening program of known tolerant variety Pokkali and susceptible variety IR29. The efficiency was estimated by calculating the ratio of salt tolerant varieties (phenotypically) in saline conditions and amplification of markers against the same
Biography:
Alex Thomas completed his M.Pharm. from Dr. MGR medical university, Tamil Nadu in the year 2013. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in VIT University, Tamil Nadu. He started his career as toxicologist at CARe Keralam Ltd. Kerala. He is now working as Scientist, Department of Toxicology at International Institute of Biotechnology and Toxicology (GLP certified), Tamil Nadu.
Abstract:
The incidence of diabetes mellitus is on the rise due to population growth, aging, urbanization, increasing prevalence of obesity and decreasing physical activity. Ever since the adoption of Alma Ata Declaration in 1978 by the W.H.O., there is a growing global interest in the use of plants for treating diseases. Tinospora crispa is is a medicinal herb widely distributed in Southeast Asia. The insulinotropic action of T. crispa was investigated using isolated rat islets of Langerhans or HIT-T15 B cells. When incubated with rat islets and HIT-T15 B cells, T. crispa extract caused a dose-related stimulation of basal and glucose- stimulated insulin secretion respectively. The insulinotropic effect was also demonstrated in perifused human islets, rat islets and HIT-T15 B cells. In all the three models insulin secretion rates returned to basal levels after removal of the extract. All these observations indicate physiological release of insulin by β-cells. Four human clinical trials have been conducted with T. crispa so far. Among them the only study reporting positive effect of T. crispa is the one by Sriyapai et al (2009, J Health Res 23: 125-133 ), who conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in thirty-six patients with metabolic syndrome. They received 250 mg of T. crispa dry powder, twice daily for two months. Patients who received T. crispa powder had significantly lower fasting blood sugar and triglyceride levels. Several published studies confirm the insulinotropic action of T. crispa. Therefore, well-controlled clinical trials using therapeutically active doses of crude T. crispa powder or the extract are required.
Naglaa A. Ashry
Agricultural Research Center, Field Crops Research Institute, Egypt
Title: Identification of stress responsive gene from Acacia nilotica subsp nilotica
Biography:
Dr. Naglaa A. Ashry has graduated and had her MSc and PhD from genetics section, Ain Shams University (Molecular genetics). She worked at Agricultural Research Center since 1984where she is now acting as a professor of genetics. She is the ex-head of Cell Research Departments. She initiated the plant molecular biology Lab. in FCRI-ARC. She is interested in the use of MAS. She participated and leaded research some projects funded either by Egyptian or European funding agencies and acted as FCRI focal point for the EU-funded projects. She also Participated in writing a book chapter "plant biodiversity and biotechnology" published in a book entitled with’ from plant genomics to plant biotechnology” 2013. She has submitted a number of ESTs to NCBI related to plant biotic and abiotic tolerance.
Abstract:
This study focused on the effective abiotic stress responsive element known as Dehydration responsive element binding factor (DREB) in Acacia nilotica subsp nilotica as a crop legumes wild relative representing a candidate of genetic resource for many important genes. DREB protein is a subfamily of AP2/ERF transcription factors, which control expression of many drought and salinity inducible genes and encode tolerance to environmental stresses in many plants. The objective of this study was to identify and molecular characterize one of the most common abiotic stress related genes (DREB genes) as a transcription factor for abiotic stress genes. A novel DNA fragment was amplified using specific primer for Arabidopsis thaliana DREB gene using extracted genomic A. nilotica DNA. The resulted amplicone was sequenced and submitted to NCBI with the accession number JX539903. Similarity searching was performed to identify the similar sequences vs. isolated fragment using BLASTN tool at the NCBI database. The results showed similarity between Acacia amplified fragment and Medicago truncatula, G. max and A. thaliana as model biological systems. Translation of the fragment into hypothetical protein showed similarities with Glycosyltransferase genes known to have a role in plant abiotic stress tolerance.
Li-Juan Qiu
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
Title: Genomic variation of subgenus soja provides insights into domestication, evolution, diversity and domestic utilization of soybean
Biography:
Lijuan Qiu has completed her PhD from Northeast Agricultural University. She is the Vice Director of Crop Molecular Biology Department and a Vice Director of Chinese Soybean Professional Association. She has published more than 88 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an Editorial Board Member of repute.
Abstract:
Although crop wild relatives are an important source of genetic diversity for agriculture, it is their gene repertoire which remains largely unexplored. Here we report the establishments and analysis of a pan-genome of Glycine soja; the wild progenitor species of cultivated soybean Glycine max, by de novo sequencing of seven representative accessions. Inter-genomic comparison identified lineage-specific genes and genes with copy number variations or large-effect mutations, some of which have undergone positive selection and may contribute to variation of key agronomic traits such as pathogen or pest resistance, seed composition, flowering time and maturity, biomass and organ size. Approximately 80% of the pan-genome was present in all seven accessions, while the rest was dispensable and exhibited greater adaptive selection than the core genome, perhaps reflective of their distinct roles in adaptation to diverse environment. This work will facilitate the harnessing of untapped genetic diversity from wild soybean for enhancement of elite cultivars.
- Track14: Cereals and Crops
Location: Room1
Session Introduction
Delphine Fleury
Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, Australia
Title: Progress in positional cloning of drought tolerance QTL in wheat using genomics resources.
Biography:
Dr Delphine Fleury completed her PhD in 2001 at the ENSAT (Toulouse, France) and her postdoctoral training in 2005 at the Department of Plant Systems Biology (VIB, Ghent, Belgium).
Abstract:
Climate change is predicted to lead to more episodes of drought and heat and requires the breeding of tolerant cultivars able to sustain production under stress. The discovery and use of new dwarfing and maturity alleles were major advances in wheat breeding that led to the high yielding varieties of the Green revolution of the 1960s. Over the past decade yield improvement has slowed to about 1% increase per year. A way to improve the drought tolerance of crops varieties is to discover new genes and alleles that allow plants to continue to grow and yield grain under water limited conditions. Although many quantitative trait loci (QTL) have been identified in wheat few have been deployed in breeding programmes. Over ten years program, the ACPFG has cumulated QTL information on three genetic populations for yield, agronomical, physiological and morphological traits in various locations in Australia, India and Mexico. Genomic resources have tremendously increased in the last years, which enable us making progress in fine mapping and positional cloning of drought tolerance QTL. One of our targets is qDHY.3BL, a QTL that increases yield and yield components in hot and dry climates. qDHY.3BL was fine mapped using the cv Chinese Spring reference sequence of chromosome 3B and whole genome shotgun sequences of Australian parental lines. We also identified haplotypes at the QTL interval from a diverse wheat panel combining 800 worldwide accessions and studied their distribution among these accessions.
Yuanhu Xuan
Shenyang Agricultural University,China
Title: RAV-Like 1 (RAVL1) regulates brassinosteroid-mediated activation of AMT1;2 in ric
Biography:
Yuanhu Xuan has obtained his PhD degree in 2010 from Gyeongsang National University, Korea and Post-doc training in Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington. He is now working at the Department of Plant Protection in Shenyang Agricultural University, China as a professor. He is currently interested in identifying the role of nutrient transporters in plants and environment interaction as well as crop production.
Abstract:
The promotive action of brassinosteroids (BRs) on plant growth and development has been widely investigated at the genetic and cell biological level. Although growth promotion may also rely on improved plant nutrition, it is not known whether BRs may directly act on nutrient uptake. In this study, we explored the possibility of a direct relationship between BRs and ammonium uptake via expression of AMMONIUM TRANSPORTER 1 (AMT1)-type genes in rice roots. BR treatment increased the expression of AMT1;1 and AMT1;2, whereas in the mutant d61-1, which is defective in the BR-receptor gene BRI1, BR-dependent expression of these genes was suppressed. We then employed the transcription factor RAV-Like 1 (RAVL1), which is involved in BR homeostasis, to investigate BR-mediated AMT1 expression and its effect on NH4+ uptake in rice roots. BR-dependent induction of AMT1;2 was suppressed in the ravl1 mutant, while overexpression of RAVL1 increased AMT1;2 transcript levels. EMSA and ChIP analyses showed that RAVL1 activates the expression of AMT1;2 by directly binding to E-box motifs in its promoter. Moreover, 15NH4+ uptake in roots, cellular ammonium contents, and root responses to methyl ammonium strongly depended on RAVL1 expression levels. Analyzing AMT1;2 expression levels in different crossings between BRI1 and RAVL1 mutant and overexpression lines further indicated that RAVL1 acts downstream of BRI1 in the NH4+-dependent induction of AMT1;2. Thus, the present study shows how BRs can interfere with the transcriptional regulation of nutrient transporters to modulate their uptake capacity.
Reshma Rizvi
Agrisoma Biosciences Inc, Canada
Title: Pearl Millet: Sustainable approach to enhance productivity for global hunger solution
Biography:
Reshma has completed her MSc from India and worked at ICRISAT India, IPK Gatersleben Germany, University of Saskatchewan & Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in Canada. She has also gained industry experience from Bayer CropSciences and Agrisoma Biosciences Inc at Can-ada. She has published numerous papers to her credit. In her current role She is working with Agrisoma Biosciences on Carinata to improve the Jet Fuel.
Abstract:
Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a global hunger & climate-change solution crop grown in the hottest, driest areas where dryland, rainfed and irrigated agriculture are practiced. Its production is most limited by low soil fertility and drought, and their interactions. Evidence suggests that phosphorus (P) is even more limiting than water in drier semi-arid zones of Africa and the Indian sub-continent. Plant species have evolved several adaptations to acquire P from P-deficient environments. These include changes in root architecture and exudates … that allow plants to access water and soil nutrients from larger soil volumes. The first component of this strategy can include shifts in plant root architecture (e.g., root depth explored, degrees and angles of branching, and proportions of fine vs thick roots). A second component of this strategy can involve acidification of the rhizosphere to mobilize poorly-available soil P, Fe, Zn, …. A third possible component of this strategy uses root exudates to attract symbiotic actinomycetes, bacte-ria, and/or mycorrhizae, …; but, this risks stimulating seed germination of parasitic weeds like Striga, Allectra and Orobanche spp. In situations where total soil P is limited, the only option may be to apply P; however, much applied P will soon be fixed in the soil in plant-non-available form(s). Limited access to P fertilizers, their high costs, and the relatively in-efficient use of ap-plied P fertilizers by the standing crops, make this a less viable option for resource-poor farmers in developing countries, especially in land-locked countries of West Africa where high transport costs result in local fertilizer prices three times the global average. Rock phosphates are slow-release and low-cost forms of phosphorus fertilizer which offer cost-effective solutions for af-fordable P supply to improve crop-livestock system productivity and sustainability in Africa and elsewhere. However, rock phosphates differ dramatically in their solubilities, and plants differ in their abilities to access these different forms of soil phosphates. Pearl millet genomic regions contributing to its low-P tolerance and/or ability to acquire P from poorly-soluble soil forms, are not yet understood well enough for applied use in marker-assisted selection to improve genetic gain for these traits. However, studies that provide some initial ideas are underway for this crop, as well as for rice, maize, and sorghum, in which such research has advanced considerably. Once the genomic regions contributing to more efficient phosphorus acquisition and use are mapped, it will be possible to use genome-wide marker-assisted selection to improve crop nutrient uptake from various forms of phosphorus applied to low-fertility soils.
Neeti Sanan Mishra
International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India
Title: microRNA interactions during rice development and stress adaptation
Biography:
Neeti Sanan Mishra has completed her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. She is the Group Leader of the Plant RNAi Biology Group at International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, India. She is working towards understanding the miRNA networks involved in regulating the plant development and yields. She was awarded the Dr. C.R.K.M. Memorial Young Scientist Award. She is accredited with number of patents and publications in reputed national and international journals.
Abstract:
microRNAs (miRNAs) are documented as crucial modulators of gene expression in plant growth and development. Cumulative substantiation supports the fact that miRNAs act as genetic shields against various abiotic and biotic stress conditions by regulating plant gene expression. We adopted the approach of Next Generation Sequencing (Illumina) technology for comparative profiling of miRNAs from different tissues under high temperature and salt stress physiologies in different Indian rice varieties. This revealed the expression patterns of several known and novel miRNAs. The expression patterns of selected stress deregulated miRNAs and their targets were experimentally validated. Time kinetics studies helped to apprehend the narrow windows of miRNA; target correlations indicating their role in stress response and development. This data was compiled and developed as a web server, ARMOUR, which is now being used to select miRNAs for functional analysis. The studies have indicated novel outcomes that can be utilized to prepare “climate smart plants”, which will be an enduring step to fight against abiotic stresses mediated decline in crop yields in rice.
Ram Swaroop Meena
Banaras Hindu University, India
Title: Nanocomposite polymers: A potential way to enhance crop productivity in current climatic era
Biography:
Ram Swaroop Meena is working at Banaras Hindu University, India. International experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study and interests reflect in wide range of publications in various national and international journals
Abstract:
World population is approaching 7.5 billion and there are nearly a billion malnourished peoples. Extreme weather events such as droughts and floods are predicted to become more frequent, adding to the global burden of hunger caused by poverty, weak governance, conflict and poor market access. Modern agricultural technologies and molecular biology cannot be substituted for increase food production and livelihood to the increasing world population under climate change. Modern crop production technology has considerably raised output but has created problems of land degradation, pesticide residue in farm produce, gene erosion, atmospheric and water pollution. The task of meeting the needs of the present generation without eroding the ecological assets of the future generation should be the prime objective. This objective can be achieved only by adopting such technologies which improve resource use efficiency in agriculture. In this context use of nanocomposite polymers may be a novel technology which can improve food production without threatening the environment and the natural resources. The use of polymers in agriculture is gaining popularity in science, particularly in the field of polymer chemistry. Polymers are used to improve soil permeability, density, structure, increase moisture content in soil and increase the efficiency of pesticides and herbicides, allowing lower doses to be used and to indirectly protect the environment by reducing pollution and cleanup existing pollutants. Nanotechnology has numerous applications in agriculture especially in nanofertilizers and the nanodelivery systems for delivery of nutrients to plant roots which enhance nutrient use efficiency the amount of biomass C added to the soil. They can also be used as sorbents of environmental contaminants. Polymers can be used to increase nutrient and soil water holding capacity and enhance C input into the soil. Nano films used appropriately can prevent escape of H2O molecules from plants without inhibiting the CO2 exchange. Nanocomposite polymers are substances which are able to absorb huge amount of water and nutrient. Amended to soil they increase its water capacity, decrease evapotranspiration and allow plants to increase biomass. This innovative method is known to be easy, cheap and ecological. It lets to decrease costs of irrigation and humans work, enables to safe water and energy with holding the chemical safety for the environment under current climatic situations.
E H Kwon Ndung
University of Abuja, Nigeria
Title: Genotypic restriction patterns of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn) landraces in northern Nigeria
Biography:
Emmanuel is currently working as a professor at University of Abuja, Nigeria in Federal University Lafia, Nigeria. International experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study and interests reflect in wide range of publications in various national and international journals
Abstract:
A study was conducted to characterize the genetic diversity of 10 germplasm accessions of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L) Gaertn) collected from diverse locations spread across the geographical zone of northern Nigeria. The digest was carried out using the molecular marker Restriction Fragment Digest (RFD) on agarose gel while EcoR1 and Hind III restriction enzymes were used to cut the genomic DNA at specific sites. The results of our findings using RFD generated four clear DNA bands of molecular weights ranging from 10000, 8500, 1000 and 200 KDA. This clearly suggests the existence of polymorphism among the plant accessions. These results demonstrate the high variability that exists amongst the genetic traits for these germplasm accessions. Information on this plant is very useful in unraveling the pedigree genetic relationships as well as in designing breeding and selection experiments for improvement of this crop in Nigeria. These results will further stimulate growing interest on the genetic diversity and classification of this neglected and underutilized species.
Bao Le
Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea
Title: The large soybean and common bean ARF TF family expanded by segmental duplication events and expression analysis
Biography:
Gyuhwa Chung was a Full Professor of Department of Biomedical and Electronic Engineering, Chonnam National University. He is a Manager of Chung's Wild Legume Germplasm Collection (CWLGC) directly collected during last 30 years from Korea, Japan, China, Russia, etc. He has published more than 25 papers with 30.28 impact points.
Abstract:
Auxin response factors (ARFs) encode one of the most abundant groups of auxin mediated response transcription factors in higher plants and play as a major role in different biological process. The success of whole genome sequencing allows analysis more comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the ARF genes in plants. In the present study, we identified 80 ARF genes belonging to 5 different groups in legume species, soybean (55) and common bean (25) based on phylogenetic analysis and supported by motif analysis. The duplication event among two species has also observed by using Ka/Ks ratio. In soybean, a majority of ARF genes (40%; 22 of 55) were segmentally duplicated and 3.6% (2 of 55) of the genes were tandemly duplicated. This pattern was higher apparent in other plants. In addition, expression profiling indicated that ARF genes in soybean and common bean suggest its various functions in plant growth and development. Furthermore, Sp-1 and Skn-1 motif, which stable promoter involved in biotic and abiotic stresses and developmental processes were highly detected in all of GmARF. Together, our work contributes to a molecular evolution of the ARF gene family in legume species and is useful for future study.
- Track 16: Bioinformatics
Location: Room1
Session Introduction
Precision BioSciences Inc., USA
Precision BioSciences Inc., USA
Title: Genome Editing in Crop improvement
Biography:
John Salmeron is the Director of Plant Sciences at Precision BioSciences, Inc., in Durham NC, USA and has worked in the field of Plant Biotechnology for over 20 years. Prior to joining Precision, he held positions in Business Development and led the agricultural R&D team at Intrexon Corporation, a Leader in Synthetic Biology. He was a Research Portfolio Manager at Syngenta Biotechnology Inc., and held leadership roles directing teams in trait development and genomics. He is the Founder of eiiConsulting, an early-stage biotechnology consulting firm. He has an AB degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a PhD from Duke University.
Abstract:
Genome editing promises to drive a new generation of crop trait products, with reduced development times, low regulatory hurdles, and broad application. The ARCUS technology platform at Precision BioSciences delivers custom meganuclease editing agents with extremely high levels of specificity. Delivered through a rapid cell-based screening process, ARCUS nucleases have been proven effective across a wide range of target sitesfor gene mutation, deletion and insertion in a variety of crops.
- Plant Epigenetics
Location: Room 2
Session Introduction
Meenu Kapoor
Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,India
Title: Cytosine DNA Methyltransferases and LIKE-HETEROCHROMATIN PROTEIN 1 (LHP1) Regulate Apical Cell Growth, Development and Abiotic Stress Tolerance in the Moss, Physcomitrella patens
Biography:
Prof. Meenu Kapoor completed her Ph.D. at the Center for Gene Research, Nagoya University, Japan. Thereafter, she worked as Post-doctoral fellow in the Center of Excellence Project at the National Institute of Agro-biological Sciences (NIAS) with Hiroshi Takatsuji at Tsukuba Science City near Tokyo. She is presently heading the group on Plant Epigenetics in the School of Biotechnology and has four international patens to her credit, besides having published many research papers in International journals of repute. She is an active member of committees evaluating projects to be funded by Government of India, National Institute of Health, USA and National Science Center, Government of Poland.
Abstract:
Liverworts, hornworts and mosses form a paraphyletic group among bryophytes that diverged early from the lineage that gave rise to flowering plants. Among these, mosses have had a tremendous impact on different ecosystems and climatic conditions during the pre-cambrian era that paved way for colonization of land by animals. Physcomitrella patens occupies a key position among bryophytes between the green algae and the vascular plants. Its genomic study provides insight into the adaptations made by these plants to withstand extreme environmental conditions that eventually lead to colonization of land by these plants. The “green yeast’, as it is sometimes called, exhibits a high rate of homologous recombination. This, together with the ease of transformation and high regeneration capacity has resulted in emergence of P. patens as a model plant for reverse genetics approaches for gene functions analysis. Exploiting this potential, we have generated stable gene knockout mutants for cytosine DNA methyltransferases, PpCMT and PpDNMT2 and the putative PRC1 component, PpLHP1. Whole genome transcriptome analysis has revealed the role of epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, in regulating genes/biological pathways affecting cell wall biosynthesis, developmental transition from juvenile to adult phase and abiotic stress tolerance. We provide genetic evidence for regulation of apical cell growth, cell wall loosening and gravitropic response by PpCMT/PpLHP1 complex. Protein-protein interaction studies reveal other components of PRC1 complex to be possibly involved in these pathways. We also highlight the role of the DNA/RNA methyltransferase, PpDNMT2 in regulating salt and osmotic stress tolerance by affecting biogenesis/stability of specific transfer RNA molecules.
Lingyun Zhang
Beijing Forestry University, China
Title: Overexpression of a NF-YB3 transcription factor from Picea wilsonii confers tolerance to salinity and drought stress in transformed Arabidopsis thaliana
Biography:
Lingyun Zhang has completed her PhD from China Agricultural University in 2003 and Postdoctoral studies from Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2006. She is currently working in Beijing Forestry University as a Professor. She has published more than 30 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as Reviewer for many journals around the world. Her research work is currently focusing on the molecular mechanisms of plant response to abiotic stress and fruit development and quality regulation.
Abstract:
Nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) is a highly conserved transcription factor comprising NF-YA, NF-YB and NF-YC subunits. To date, the roles of NF-Y subunit in plant still remain elusive. In this study, a subunit NF-YB (PwNF-YB3) was isolated from Picea wilsonii Mast. and its role was studied. PwNF-YB3 transcript was detected in all vegetative and reproductive tissues with higher levels in stem and root and was greatly induced by salinity, heat and PEG but not by cold and ABA treatment. Over-expression of PwNF-YB3 in Arabidopsis showed a significant acceleration in the onset of flowering and resulted in more vigorous seed germination and significant tolerance for seedlings under salinity, drought and osmotic stress compared with wild type plants. Transcription levels of salinity responsive gene (SOS3) and drought induced gene (CDPK1) were substantially higher in transgenic Arabidopsis than in wild-type plants. Importantly, CBF pathway markers (COR15B, KIN1 and LEA76) but not ABA pathway markers CBF4 were greatly induced under condition of drought. Taken together, the data provide evidence that PwNF-YB3 positively confers significant tolerance to salt, osmotic and drought stress in transformed Arabidopsis plants probably through modulating gene regulation in CBF-dependent pathway.
M Jayanthi
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India
Title: RNAi as an effective mechanism to tackle plant parasitic nematodes: A few case studies
Biography:
M Jayanthi has completed her under graduation in Agriculture and her Post graduation and PhD in Plant Biotechnology. Her PhD was under the guidance of Professor M. S. Swaminathan who is the Father of Green revolution in India. She has worked on conservation of biodiversity and saving the rare endangered plants of Western Ghats for her PhD. She has the experience of working in several institutes like the TBGRI, Trivandrum, IGFRI, Jhansi, CTCRI, Trivandrum, IIOPR; Andhra Pradesh and on a wide range of crops like Rauvolfia species, Tylophora indica,
Abstract:
There are several reports of successful application of RNAi for functional validation of various genes of plant parasitic nematodes particularly under in vitro conditions. Delivering dsRNA to plant parasitic nematodes has been technically challenging, because these obligatory parasites requires living host for feeding and the pre-parasitic nematodes are of non feeding and do not ingest fluid at this stage. Several housekeeping and parasitism genes were silenced in vitro for functional studies using this approach are well documented. Due to grand success in functional genomics, RNAi has emerged as versatile tool with wide range of applications in plant biology. Recent developments in RNAi led to the identification of core RNAi components in many eukaryotes and have envisioned researchers to adopt this tool for wider applications in crop improvement including engineering crop plants against plant parasitic nematode menace. In the past decade, various studies indicated key developments in the RNAi machinery and also whole genome sequence data available for few of the plant-parasitic nematodes provides a new horizon for the successful exploitation of RNAi for nematode control. Expression of dsRNA, corresponding to the nematode target gene through host plant, mediates the production of siRNAs. Based on the sequence similarity between the siRNAs and the corresponding target mRNA, silencing is achieved upon nematode feeding. Although most of the reports successfully utilized RNAi for studying the gene function in vitro, however, they were not technically feasible to use as nematode control under field conditions. And major hurdle for potential application of plant-mediated RNAi was whether nematodes ingest dsRNA when feeding on plant cells expressing dsRNA constructs. The delivery of parasites gene-specific dsRNA through the host may be more effective and appropriate method for nematode control. Host-delivered RNAi appears to be most promising strategy for nematode control. Based on the choice of the target gene selected, it can be broadly categorized as dsRNA against the targets which are constitutively expressed throughout nematode life cycle, genes involved in nematode development, neurotransmission, nematode effectors/parasitism genes. Some of these nematode target genes have been validated experimentally through in vitro RNAi experiments in C. elegans and other plant parasitic nematodes. In our own laboratory it is found that silencing of several genes like FLP 18 and MSP1 can reduce the nematode attack in brinjal. All the above reports both under in vitro and in planta strongly indicate that utilization of several key nematode genes can be used for silencing through in planta RNAi for developing successful management of root knot and other important plant parasitic nematodes.
Getachew Liku Aregawi
Haramaya University, Ethiopia
Title: Analysis of the ABP1 promoter in Arabidopsis expressing promoter fragments coupled to the GUS indicator gene
Biography:
Getachew Liku Aregawi has completed his BSc degree in Agriculture at Haramaya University, Ethiopia and his MSc degree in Plant Biotechnology at Hannover University, Germany. Currently, he is working at Haramaya University as Lecturer and Researcher
Abstract:
The role of auxin at molecular level in exerting rapid and specific effects on gene regulation has been reported by a number of studies. However, the mechanism of auxin perception and the identity of receptors are not fully elucidated. Transport Inhibitor Response 1 (TIR1) has been clearly identified as a receptor of auxin in the nucleus. In a sandwich complex, TIR1 and IAA proteins bind auxin and this leads to proteosome mediated degradation of IAA proteins as negative transcriptional co-regulators. TIR1 has no role for very rapid cellular responses of auxin application at plasma membrane. Auxin-Binding-Protein 1 (ABP1) is a good candidate for this alternative auxin signaling pathway which is implicated in non transcriptional auxin signaling. ABP1 itself is expressed as auxin responsive gene mediated by TIR1. In this project the expression of ABP1 and thus, its role in auxin signaling has been investigated using a promoter GUS approach. Initially, two promoter fragments without exon-intron sequences coupled to the GUS gene were transformed into Arabidopsis and analyzed; these plants did not express GUS activities. Two promoter regions, one with exon and intron sequences downstream of the start codon (ABP1 (exon-intron)) and one without downstream sequences were additionally analyzed using the GUS activities in response to auxins and light. The GUS activity was strong in the seedlings expressing promoter regions with exon-intron sequences while there were low activities without exon-intron sequences observed after exogenous auxin or light treatment. The activity of GUS expressed by extended promoter with exon-intron and the positive control DR5-GUS increased with time and the concentration of exogenous auxin treatment. The extended promoter (ABP1 (exon-intron)) also showed higher GUS activities in response to red light and blue light while the promoter without exon-intron sequences and DR5 seedlings showed no GUS activities at all light conditions except low activity of GUS in the shoot meristem of DR5-GUS seedlings in response to red light. Generally, expression of GUS was observed around young leaves and root tips in response to auxin and light treatment.
- plant molecular and cellular biology
Location: Room 2
Session Introduction
G. Balasubramani
ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research,India
Title: Expression analysis of cotton fiber strength associated genes using RILs mapping population
Biography:
Professor Dr. C. D. Mayee born in July 1946 in Buldana, Maharashtra, India. He did his PhD in Plant Pathology from ICAR-IARI, New Delhi with Gold medal in 1972. German Language Grundstuffe I and II course at Goethe Institute, Rothenburg (Germany) in1980. Post Doc, AVH Fellow, (Germany) University of Hohenheim (1980-82). He was Vice Chancellor, Marathwada Agriculture University, Parbhani, June, 1997-August, 2000, later Director of ICAR-Central Institute for Cotton Research, Nagpur 4.8.2000 to 14.7.2003, Then he served as Agricultural Commissioner, Govt. of India, New Delhi (15.07.2003 – 05.12.2004). Then be became Chairman, Agricultural Scientists Recruitment Board, New Delhi (6.12.2004.-14.07.2011). Presently engaged as ADJUCNT PROFESSOR, I.A.R.I, New Delhi, Chairman, Agriculture Finance Corporation, Mumbai, and Executive Member of International Service for Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications, USA, and African Biosafety Network, Burkina Faso. In research consistently worked in the area of plant protection for management of crop diseases of dry land crops like cotton, sorghum, pearl-millet, pulses, groundnut, and sunflower. Twenty five years of continuous research with the help of students (guided 20 PhD and 30 M.Sc. students) and series of ICAR funded projects. Cotton crop has been one of the passions for Dr. Mayee and his interest of R & D multiplied after assuming the positions of Director, Cotton Institute and Agriculture Commissioner at New Delhi. Cotton has always been benefited by new technologies. In 2002, the first GM crop i.e. Bt cotton has been permitted for commercial use in India. The evaluation, assessment, safety and all regulatory issues were handled by Dr. Mayee since 1998 and single handled perused for the release of the technology for cotton farmers of India in GEAC, New Delhi. Dr. Mayee received several academic awards such as Narasimhan Academic Merit Award (1974), Pesticide Award (1989), HAR & DF Award L (1978), V.P. Gokhale Award (1998), Outstanding Team Award of ICAR (2003) Sasya Suraksha Award and the prestigious Recognition Award by IPS, New Delhi for his research contributions.
Abstract:
Cotton is natural and renewable fiber. Cotton lint is priced based on the fiber properties. Presently textile industry use high speed open end rotor spinning machine which demand high strength (>30g/tex) and length (>2.8cm) with moderate fineness (3.7- 4.2 mic) of cotton lint. Most of the Indian varieties fail to fulfil the requirements especially strength. The discovery of the cotton cellulose synthase (GhcesA) genes encoding potential catalytic subunits of cellulose synthase revealed the involvement in biosynthesis of microfibrils of cellulose. A number of genes associated with fiber length (GhcesA1, GhcesA3, GhcesA5, GhcesA6 and GhcesA9) and strength (GhcesA1, GhcesA2, GhcesA7, GhcesA8, Ghfla3 and Ghcobl4) were identified. With that information we have studied the relative gene expression with GhcesA1, GhcesA2, GhcesA7, Ghcobl4, Ghfla3 and GhMT1genes using RILs mapping population and the results showed that GhcesA1, GhcesA2, Ghfla3 and Ghcobl4 had strong association and higher expression during secondary wall synthesis, which reveals the high fiber strength. Over expression and down regulation constructs for three potential genes such as GhcesA1, GhcesA2, and Ghfla3 were generated in plant transformation vector (pCAMBIA2300) driven by fibre specific promoter and the gene cassette were confirmed by restriction analysis. All the above genes are cloned under 990bp of GhcesA1 promoter sequences. Thus all the four genes were cloned for validation of their role by over expression as well as down regulation in low and high fiber strength genotypes of Indian cotton through transgenic approach.
- Single Cell Genomics
Location: Day1
Session Introduction
Robert Hasterok
Plant Breeding, Plant Science and Plant Genetics
Title: Dissecting grass genome organisation at the cytomolecular level using the model genus Brachypodium
Biography:
Robert Hasterok (PhD, DSc and Professor of biological sciences) is the head of the Department of Plant Anatomy and Cytology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. His current research interests focus on plant cytogenetics and molecular cytogenetics, especially on various aspects of the nuclear genome structure, evolution and dynamics at the chromosomal level of plants, analysed using the grass model organisms of the Brachypodium genus. He has published 50+ papers in reputable journals and books
Abstract:
Modern molecular cytogenetics combines various methodological approaches of cytology, molecular genetics and advanced digital image analysis. It focuses on the study of nuclear genomes at the microscopic level. The cytomolecular organisation of plant genomes is still rather poorly investigated, compared to that of animals. Most plant genomes, including those of economically and ecologically crucial cereals and forage grasses, are usually large and saturated with repetitive DNA, which hampers detailed molecular cytogenetic analyses. Model organisms possess a combination of features, which makes them more amenable to scientific investigation than others. One of the most recent and rapidly developing model systems are representatives of the Brachypodium genus, particularly B. distachyon. They possess small, and in some cases, already sequenced genomes with a low repeat content, diverse basic chromosome numbers and ploidy levels. They also have an interesting phylogeny, short life cycles and simple growth requirements, complemented by a rapidly and continuously growing repertoire of various experimental tools. This presentation outlines and discusses our current projects and their future prospects, using Brachypodium species for research on various aspects of grass genome organisation, e.g. (i) karyotype structure and evolution, (ii) distribution of chromosome territories within the nucleus, (iii) dynamics of epigenetic modifications of chromatin during embryo development and cell differentiation, (iv) true nature of selective silencing of rRNA genes in some Brachypodium allopolyploids and (v) instability of a small grass genome induced via mutagenic treatments.