Gene structure dynamics and divergence of the polygalacturonase gene family of plants and fungus

Belzile, Francois,Park, K.-C.,Kwon, S.-J.,Kim, P.-H.,Bureau, T.,Kim, N.-S. Canadian Science Publishing 2008 Genome Vol.51 No.1

<P> Whole copies of the polygalacturonase (PG) genes from rice ( Oryza sativa subsp. japonica) and a filamentous fungus ( Aspergillus oryzae ) were isolated. The orthologs of the rice PGs were also retrieved from other plant species. The 106 plant PGs analyzed were divided into 5 clades, A, B, C, D, and E. The fungus PGs were classified into 3 clades, of which one formed a loose cluster with clade E of the plant PGs. Four domain motifs (I, II, III, IV) were identified in all PGs. Motifs II and III were split by introns such as G/DDC and CGPGHGIS/IGSLG, respectively. In plant PGs there were 446 introns in total and 3.98 introns per gene. Intron phase distribution was 65.5% for phase 0, 19.7% for phase 1, and 14.8% for phase 2 in plant PGs. In the PGs of A. oryzae there were 37 introns of phase 0 (59.5%), phase 1 (24.3%), and phase 2 (16.2%), with 2.47 introns per gene. The 5 clades of plant PGs were divided into 3 basic gene structure lineages. Intron positions and phases were conserved among the PGs in the first 2 lineages. The third lineage consisted of PGs of clade E, which also carried highly conserved introns at different positions from other PGs. Intron positions were not as highly conserved in fungus PGs as in plant PGs. The introns in the current PGs have been present since before the divergence of monocots from dicots. The results obtained show that differential losses of introns created gene diversity, which was followed by segmental and tandem duplication in plant PGs. </P>

Identification of candidate genes for the seed coat colour change in a <i>Brachypodium distachyon</i> mutant induced by gamma radiation using whole-genome re-sequencing

Lee, Man Bo,Kim, Dae Yeon,Seo, Yong Weon,Belzile, F. National Research Council of Canada, Conseil natio 2017 Genome Vol. No.

<P> Brachypodium distachyon has been proposed as a model plant for agriculturally important cereal crops such as wheat and barley. Seed coat colour change from brown-red to yellow was observed in a mutant line (142-3) of B. distachyon, which was induced by chronic gamma radiation. In addition, dwarf phenotypes were observed in each of the lines 142-3, 421-2, and 1376-1. To identify causal mutations for the seed coat colour change, the three mutant lines and the wild type were subjected to whole-genome re-sequencing. After removing natural variations, 906, 1057, and 978 DNA polymorphisms were detected in 142-3, 421-2, and 1376-1, respectively. A total of 13 high-risk DNA polymorphisms were identified in mutant 142-3. Based on a comparison with DNA polymorphisms in 421-2 and 1376-1, candidate causal mutations for the seed coat colour change in 142-3 were selected. In the two independent Arabidopsis thaliana lines carrying T-DNA insertions in the AtCHI, seed colour change was observed. We propose a frameshift mutation in BdCHI1 as a causal mutation responsible for seed colour change in 142-3. The DNA polymorphism information for these mutant lines can be utilized for functional genomics in B. distachyon and cereal crops. </P>

Comparative genome analysis to identify SNPs associated with high oleic acid and elevated protein content in soybean

Kulkarni, Krishnanand P.,Patil, Gunvant,Valliyodan, Babu,Vuong, Tri D.,Shannon, J. Grover,Nguyen, Henry T.,Lee, Jeong-Dong,Belzile, F. National Research Council of Canada, Conseil natio 2018 Genome Vol. No.

<P> The objective of this study was to determine the genetic relationship between the oleic acid and protein content. The genotypes having high oleic acid and elevated protein (HOEP) content were crossed with five elite lines having normal oleic acid and average protein (NOAP) content. The selected accessions were grown at six environments in three different locations and phenotyped for protein, oil, and fatty acid components. The mean protein content of parents, HOEP, and NOAP lines was 34.6%, 38%, and 34.9%, respectively. The oleic acid concentration of parents, HOEP, and NOAP lines was 21.7%, 80.5%, and 20.8%, respectively. The HOEP plants carried both FAD2-1A (S117N) and FAD2-1B (P137R) mutant alleles contributing to the high oleic acid phenotype. Comparative genome analysis using whole-genome resequencing data identified six genes having single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) significantly associated with the traits analyzed. A single SNP in the putative gene Glyma.10G275800 was associated with the elevated protein content, and palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids. The genes from the marker intervals of previously identified QTL did not carry SNPs associated with protein content and fatty acid composition in the lines used in this study, indicating that all the genes except Glyma.10G278000 may be the new genes associated with the respective traits. </P>

Isolation and characterization of novel <i>Ty</i>1-<i>copia</i>-like retrotransposons from lily

Lee, Sung-Il,Park, Kyong-Cheul,Son, Jae-Han,Hwang, Youn-Jung,Lim, Ki-Byung,Song, Ye-Su,Kim, Jong-Hwa,Kim, Nam-Soo,Belzile, F. Canadian Science Publishing 2013 Genome Vol.56 No.9

<P> Species of the genus Lilium are well known for their large genomes. Although expansion of noncoding repeated DNA is believed to account for this genome size, retroelement del Ty3-gypsy is the only one described so far in the genus Lilium. We isolated Ty1-copia elements from Lilium longiflorum and named them LIREs (lily retrotransposons). The long terminal repeats, primer binding site, and polypurine tract sequences are highly similar among the LIRE elements, indicating that they are in the same lineage. Although the protein-coding regions were highly decayed, the sequence motifs of the integrase, reverse transcriptase, and RNase H domains were identifiable as belonging to the order of Ty1-copia elements. Phylogenetic analysis and primer binding site sequences revealed that these elements belonged to the Ale lineage among the six lineages of plant Ty1-copia elements. Base substitutions in the long terminal repeats estimated that the integration times of the LIRE Ty1-copia elements were between 0.7 and 5.5 mya. In situ hybridization showed that the LIRE elements were present in all the chromosomes of L. longiflorum and L. lancifolium, but absent in centromeres, telomeres, and 45S rRNA sites in both species. The LIRE elements were present very abundantly in species of the genus Lilium, but absent in other genera of the family Liliaceae, implying that the LIRE elements might have contributed to the expansion of the genome in the genus Lilium. </P>

Development of a high-resolution melting marker for selecting Fusarium crown and root rot resistance in tomato

Kim, Bichseam,Kim, Nahui,Kim, Jun Young,Kim, Byung Sup,Jung, Hee-Jeong,Hwang, Indoek,Noua, Ill-Sup,Sim, Sung-Chur,Park, Younghoon,Belzile, F. Canadian Science Publishing 2016 Genome Vol.59 No.3

<P> Fusarium crown and root rot is a severe fungal disease of tomato caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-lycopersici (FORL). In this study, the genomic location of the FORL-resistance locus was determined using a set of molecular markers on chromosome 9 and an F2 population derived from FORL-resistant inbred ‘AV107-4’ (Solanum lycopersicum) × susceptible ‘L3708’ (Solanum pimpinellifolium). Bioassay performed using Korean FORL strain KACC 40031 showed single dominant inheritance of FORL resistance in the F2 population. In all, 13 polymerase chain reaction-based markers encompassing approximately 3.6-72.0 Mb of chromosome 9 were developed based on the Tomato-EXPEN 2000 map and SolCAP Tomato single nucleotide polymorphism array analysis. These markers were genotyped on 345 F2 plants, and the FORL-resistance locus was found to be present on a pericentromeric region of suppressed chromosomal recombination in chromosome 9. The location of the FORL-resistance locus was further confirmed by testing these markers against diverse commercial tomato and stock cultivars resistant to FORL. A restriction fragment length polymorphism marker, PNU-D4, located at approximately 6.1 Mb of chromosome 9 showed the highest match with the resistance locus and was used for conducting high-resolution melting analysis for marker-assisted selection of FORL resistance. </P>