Involvement of Jasmonate- signaling pathway in the herbivore-induced rice plant defense

The expression patterns of eight defense- related genes in the herbivore-infested and jasmonate- treated (jasmonic acid, JA and its derivative MeJA) rice leaves were analyzed using RT-PCR. The results showed that Spodoptera litura Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) herbi-vory induced the expression of lipoxygenase (LOX) and al-lene oxide synthase (AOS) genes that are involved in the jasmonate-signaling pathway. Moreover, S. litura damage resulted in the expression of farnesyl pyrophosphate syn-thase (FPS), Bowman-birk proteinase inhibitor (BBPI), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and other rice defense- related genes that were also induced by aqueous JA treat-ment or gaseous MeJA treatment. These indicated that in rice leaves, the JA-related signaling pathway was involved in the S. litura-induced chemical defense. Mechanical damage and brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (St錶) (Homoptera: Delphacidae) damage induced the expression of LOX gene, but both treatments did not induce the expression of AOS gene. However, BPH damage induced the expression of acidic pathogen-related protein 1 (PR-1a), Chitinase (PR-3), and PAL genes, which is involved in the salicylate- signaling pathway. It was suggested that salicylate-related signaling pathway or other pathways, rather than jas-monate-signaling pathway was involved in the BPH-induced rice plant defense.

An Integrative Analysis of the Effects of Auxin on Jasmonic Acid Biosynthesis in Arabidopsis thaliana

Auxin and jasmonic acid （JA） are two plant phytohormones that both participate in the regulation of many developmental processes. Jasmonic acid also plays important roles in plant stress response reactions. Although extensive investigations have been undertaken to study the biological functions of auxin and JA, little attention has been paid to the cross-talk between their regulated pathways. In the few available reports examining the effects of auxin on the expression of JA or JA-responsive genes, both synergetic and antagonistic results have been found. To further investigate the relationship between auxin and JA, we adopted an integrative method that combines microarray expression data with pathway information to study the behavior of the JA biosynthesis pathway under auxin treatment. Our results showed an overall downregulation of genes involved in JA biosynthesis, providing the first report of a relationship between auxin and the JA synthesis pathway in Arabidopsis seedlings.

Integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses provide insights into cold stress response in wheat

Cold tolerance of crop plants influences survival and productivity under low-temperature conditions. Elucidation of molecular mechanisms underlying low temperature tolerance could be helpful in breeding. In this study, we used integrated transcriptomics and metabolomics analyses to investigate changes in gene/metabolite activity in a winter-hardy wheat cultivar of(cv. Jing 411) when subjected to sold stress. The 223 metabolites mainly enriched during cold acclimation included carbohydrates, flavonoids, and amino acids.Eight common metabolites had altered abundance following freezing treatment;six increased and two decreased. Transcriptome analysis revealed that 29,066 genes were differentially expressed in wheat crowns after cold acclimation compared to the nonacclimated control. Among them, 745 genes were up-regulated following freezing treatment, suggesting substantial change in expression of a large quantity of genes upon cold acclimation and freezing treatment, which impacts on the modified metabolites.Integrated analysis of gene expression and metabolite profiles revealed that the abscisic acid(ABA)/jasmonic acid(JA) phytohormone signaling and proline biosynthesis pathways were significantly modulated under cold acclimation and freezing treatments. Our results indicated that low-temperature stress induced substantial changes in both transcriptomes and metabolomes. Critical pathways associated with ABA/JA signaling and proline biosynthesis played important roles in regulating cold tolerance in wheat.

Identification and characterization of genes involved in the jasmonate biosynthetic and signaling pathways in mulberry(Morus notabilis)

Jasmonate （JA） is an important phytohormone regulating growth, development, and environmental response in plants, particularly defense response against herbivorous insects. Recently, completion of the draft genome of the mulberry （Morus notabilis） in conjunction with genome sequencing of silkworm （Bombyx mori） provides an opportuni-ty to study this unique plant-herbivore interaction. Here, we identified genes involved in JA biosynthetic and signaling pathways in the genome of mulberry for the first time, with the majority of samples showing a tissue-biased expression pattern. The analysis of the representative genes 12-oxophy-todienoic acid reductase （OPRs） and jasmonate ZIM-domain （JAZs） was performed and the results indicated that the mulberry genome contains a relatively smal number of JA biosynthetic and signaling pathway genes. A gene encoding an＆amp;nbsp;important repressor, MnNINJA, was identified as an alternative splicing variant lacking an ethylene-responsive element binding factor-associated amphiphilic repression motif. Having this fundamental information wil facilitate future functional study of JA-related genes pertaining to mulberry-silkworm interactions.

Oxylipin Pathway in Rice and Arabidopsis

Plants have evolved complex signaling pathways to coordinate responses to developmental and environmental Information. The oxylipin pathway Is one pivotal lipid-based signaling network, composed of several competing branch pathways, that determines the plant＇s ability to adapt to various stimuli. Activation of the oxyllpln pathway Induces the de novo synthesis of biologically active metabolltes called ＂oxyllplns＂. The relative levels of these metabolltes are a distinct indicator of each plant species and determine the ability of plants to adapt to different stimuli. The two major branches of the oxyllpln pathway, allene oxide synthase （AOS） and hydroperoxlde lyase （HPL） are responsible for production of the signaling compounds, jasmonates and aldehydes respectively. Here, we compare and contrast the regulation of AOS and HPL branch pathways In rice and Arabidopsis as model monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous systems. These analyses provide new Insights Into the evolution of JAs and aldehydes signaling pathways, and the complex network of processes responsible for stress adaptations In monocots and dicots.