Evaluation of genetic relatedness among acacia superbulk and acacia hybrid (Acacia mangium x acacia auriculiformis) trees using M13 Universal Primer

The genetic relatedness among Acacia superbulk (plus tree of Acacia mangium) and Acacia hybrid (Acacia mangium x Acacia auriculiformis) collected from the UNIMAS arboretum, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak was evaluated using M13 universal Primer. A total of 16 reproducible loci was generated where 56.3% of the fragments were identified as polymorphic band with the size ranging from 500bp to 2.5kbp. An UPGMA dendrogram was constructed based on the Jaccard’s coefficient of similarity matrix which then grouped the Acacia superbulk and Acacia hybrid into two main clusters, i.e. Cluster 1: Acacia superbulk trees and Cluster 2: Acacia hybrid trees. All Acacia hybrid trees showed identical banding profile and therefore, suggested that these trees were originated from the same clone, whereas Acacia superbulk trees were originated from randomly selected plus trees seeds of A. mangium. The preliminary results showed that M13 universal primer is a potential molecular marker not only for assessing genetic relatedness but also could be used for clonal identification and seedling certification. However, further study by using other DAMD markers such as YNZ-22 and 33.6 can be carried out to validate these results

Detoxification related genes in gut of Coptotermes curvignathus

Coptotermes curvignathus (C. curvignathus) are subterranean termites that feed on living-tree as their sole diet,which consist mainly of cellulose, hemicelluloses, lignin, plant allele chemical and other environmental residues such as insecticide. The xenobiotic compounds, plant allele chemical and insecticide are hazardous to termites health and need to be transported out of their body via xenobiotic and detoxification metabolism. This paper highlighted the potential enzymes that play vital role in the xenobiotic and detoxification metabolism. Transcriptomic data were generated from 200 termite’s digestive system using Illumina HiSeq 2000. Raw data was trimmed and assembled by SOLEXAQA and Bowtie before loaded into Gene Ontology based data mining software, Blast2GO (B2G). The result showed that, C. curvignathus contain enzymes that involved in all three biotransformation phases of xenobiotic and detoxification metabolism, which included cytochrome P450s monooxygenases, glutathione S-transferase, carboxylesterase, UDPglucuronyltransferases and N-acetyltransferase. The result of this study is the first insight into Cc xenobiotic pathway

Digestome of the termite, coptotermes curvignathus holmgren as a source of novel lignocellulases

Researchers have made extensive efforts to determine the lignocellulose degrading potential genes in herbivorous insect, which might assist in reducing the cost of biofuel production via treatment of lignocelluloses. This project was carried out using Coptotermes curvignathus, a subterranean termite that has an important impact economically on both agricultural lands and plantations by causing deaths of crop plants, whether in sapling or mature form. Hence, the ability of C. curvignathus to feed on living trees and overcome the barriers and defenses of plants is intriguing. The objectives of this study are to discover the Carbohydrate-Active enzymes (CAZyme) related genes in C. curvignathus, illustrate a potential pathway for lignocelluloses degradation in the digestive system, and discover the genes involved in the defensive system. To achieve these objectives, a transcriptomic gene library was constructed using digestive tracts from 200 insects, from which mRNA was isolated to generate a cDNA library. The cDNA library was sequenced in Next Generation Sequencing via Illumina HiSeq 2000. Raw data were trimmed and assembled by SolexaQA and Bowtie before loading into Gene Ontology based data mining software, Blast2GO (B2G). Assembled transcriptome were loaded into CAZyme analysis toolkits to identify CAZyme genes present in the data. Data were also analysed based on insect innate immunity database (IIID). The result from the study showed the presence of expressed gene encoding lignocellulose of CAZyme residing in C. curvignathus that fed in different habitat, with about 68% of the common CAZyme families encoded transcripts from mineral habitat which were expressed to be higher than peat habitat. As compared to Reticuliformis flavipes and Coptotermes formosanus, ten CAZyme families (GH16, GH22, GH23, GH32, GH73, GT90, CE15, CBM3, CBM5 and CBM50) were found only in C. curvignathus. In addition, in this study, expression profile for Auxiliary Activity (AA) of a new family of CAZyme is presented to show that lignin degradation is significant in C. curvignathus lignocellulosic digestion. The lignocellulose degrading pathway was illustrated in this study to show the complex mechanism on how C. curvignathus digest lignocellulose material. Lastly, this study has discovered several important expressed genes, such as GH22 and GH23 that are related to host immune system and detoxification. In conclusion, this project is hoped to adapt the usage of C. curvignathus CAZyme ability in industrial lignocellulose degradation and also improve the agricultural sector in the control of C. curvignathus through the finding of defence related transcriptome such as GH22 and GH23. It is also recommended to study each of the ten unique gene found in this study in detail via protein expression, which will determine the actual function in C. curvignathus