48 research outputs found

    Dissecting wheat grain yield drivers in a mapping population in the UK

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    Improving crop yields arises as a solution to ensure food security in the future scenarios of growing world population, changes in food consumption patterns, climate change and limitation on resources allocated to agriculture. Defining traits that can be reliable cornerstones to yield improvement and understanding their interaction and influence on yield formation is an important part of ensuring the success of breeding programs for high yield. Traits that can drive yield increases, such as light interception and conversion efficiency, carbon assimilation and allocation, were intensively phenotyped in a double-haploid wheat mapping population grown under field conditions in the UK. Traits were analysed for their correlation to yield, genetic variation and broad-sense heritability. Canopy cover and reflectance, biomass production and allocation to stems and leaves, as well as flag leaf photosynthesis at a range of light levels measured pre- and post-anthesis correlated with plant productivity and contributed to explain different strategies of wheat lines to attain high grain yields. This research mapped multiple traits related to light conversion into biomass. The findings highlight the need to phenotype traits throughout the growing season and support the approach of targeting photosynthesis and its components as traits for breeding high yielding wheat

    Structure of the first representative of Pfam family PF04016 (DUF364) reveals enolase and Rossmann-like folds that combine to form a unique active site with a possible role in heavy-metal chelation.

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    The crystal structure of Dhaf4260 from Desulfitobacterium hafniense DCB-2 was determined by single-wavelength anomalous diffraction (SAD) to a resolution of 2.01 Å using the semi-automated high-throughput pipeline of the Joint Center for Structural Genomics (JCSG) as part of the NIGMS Protein Structure Initiative (PSI). This protein structure is the first representative of the PF04016 (DUF364) Pfam family and reveals a novel combination of two well known domains (an enolase N-terminal-like fold followed by a Rossmann-like domain). Structural and bioinformatic analyses reveal partial similarities to Rossmann-like methyltransferases, with residues from the enolase-like fold combining to form a unique active site that is likely to be involved in the condensation or hydrolysis of molecules implicated in the synthesis of flavins, pterins or other siderophores. The genome context of Dhaf4260 and homologs additionally supports a role in heavy-metal chelation

    Structure of a putative NTP pyrophosphohydrolase: YP_001813558.1 from Exiguobacterium sibiricum 255-15.

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    The crystal structure of a putative NTPase, YP_001813558.1 from Exiguobacterium sibiricum 255-15 (PF09934, DUF2166) was determined to 1.78 Å resolution. YP_001813558.1 and its homologs (dimeric dUTPases, MazG proteins and HisE-encoded phosphoribosyl ATP pyrophosphohydrolases) form a superfamily of all-α-helical NTP pyrophosphatases. In dimeric dUTPase-like proteins, a central four-helix bundle forms the active site. However, in YP_001813558.1, an unexpected intertwined swapping of two of the helices that compose the conserved helix bundle results in a `linked dimer' that has not previously been observed for this family. Interestingly, despite this novel mode of dimerization, the metal-binding site for divalent cations, such as magnesium, that are essential for NTPase activity is still conserved. Furthermore, the active-site residues that are involved in sugar binding of the NTPs are also conserved when compared with other α-helical NTPases, but those that recognize the nucleotide bases are not conserved, suggesting a different substrate specificity

    Structure of the γ-D-glutamyl-L-diamino acid endopeptidase YkfC from Bacillus cereus in complex with L-Ala-γ-D-Glu: insights into substrate recognition by NlpC/P60 cysteine peptidases.

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    Dipeptidyl-peptidase VI from Bacillus sphaericus and YkfC from Bacillus subtilis have both previously been characterized as highly specific γ-D-glutamyl-L-diamino acid endopeptidases. The crystal structure of a YkfC ortholog from Bacillus cereus (BcYkfC) at 1.8 Å resolution revealed that it contains two N-terminal bacterial SH3 (SH3b) domains in addition to the C-terminal catalytic NlpC/P60 domain that is ubiquitous in the very large family of cell-wall-related cysteine peptidases. A bound reaction product (L-Ala-γ-D-Glu) enabled the identification of conserved sequence and structural signatures for recognition of L-Ala and γ-D-Glu and, therefore, provides a clear framework for understanding the substrate specificity observed in dipeptidyl-peptidase VI, YkfC and other NlpC/P60 domains in general. The first SH3b domain plays an important role in defining substrate specificity by contributing to the formation of the active site, such that only murein peptides with a free N-terminal alanine are allowed. A conserved tyrosine in the SH3b domain of the YkfC subfamily is correlated with the presence of a conserved acidic residue in the NlpC/P60 domain and both residues interact with the free amine group of the alanine. This structural feature allows the definition of a subfamily of NlpC/P60 enzymes with the same N-terminal substrate requirements, including a previously characterized cyanobacterial L-alanine-γ-D-glutamate endopeptidase that contains the two key components (an NlpC/P60 domain attached to an SH3b domain) for assembly of a YkfC-like active site

    The structure of BVU2987 from Bacteroides vulgatus reveals a superfamily of bacterial periplasmic proteins with possible inhibitory function.

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    Proteins that contain the DUF2874 domain constitute a new Pfam family PF11396. Members of this family have predominantly been identified in microbes found in the human gut and oral cavity. The crystal structure of one member of this family, BVU2987 from Bacteroides vulgatus, has been determined, revealing a β-lactamase inhibitor protein-like structure with a tandem repeat of domains. Sequence analysis and structural comparisons reveal that BVU2987 and other DUF2874 proteins are related to β-lactamase inhibitor protein, PepSY and SmpA_OmlA proteins and hence are likely to function as inhibitory proteins

    Rust expression browser: an open source database for simultaneous analysis of host and pathogen gene expression profiles with expVIP

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    BackgroundTranscriptomics is being increasingly applied to generate new insight into the interactions between plants and their pathogens. For the wheat yellow (stripe) rust pathogen (Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici, Pst) RNA-based sequencing (RNA-Seq) has proved particularly valuable, overcoming the barriers associated with its obligate biotrophic nature. This includes the application of RNA-Seq approaches to study Pst and wheat gene expression dynamics over time and the Pst population composition through the use of a novel RNA-Seq based surveillance approach called "field pathogenomics". As a dual RNA-Seq approach, the field pathogenomics technique also provides gene expression data from the host, giving new insight into host responses. However, this has created a wealth of data for interrogation.ResultsHere, we used the field pathogenomics approach to generate 538 new RNA-Seq datasets from Pst-infected field wheat samples, doubling the amount of transcriptomics data available for this important pathosystem. We then analysed these datasets alongside 66 RNA-Seq datasets from four Pst infection time-courses and 420 Pst-infected plant field and laboratory samples that were publicly available. A database of gene expression values for Pst and wheat was generated for each of these 1024 RNA-Seq datasets and incorporated into the development of the rust expression browser (http://www.rust-expression.com). This enables for the first time simultaneous 'point-and-click' access to gene expression profiles for Pst and its wheat host and represents the largest database of processed RNA-Seq datasets available for any of the three Puccinia wheat rust pathogens. We also demonstrated the utility of the browser through investigation of expression of putative Pst virulence genes over time and examined the host plants response to Pst infection.ConclusionsThe rust expression browser offers immense value to the wider community, facilitating data sharing and transparency and the underlying database can be continually expanded as more datasets become publicly available

    Structure of the first representative of Pfam family PF09410 (DUF2006) reveals a structural signature of the calycin superfamily that suggests a role in lipid metabolism

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    The first structural representative of the domain of unknown function DUF2006 family, also known as Pfam family PF09410, comprises a lipocalin-like fold with domain duplication. The finding of the calycin signature in the N-terminal domain, combined with remote sequence similarity to two other protein families (PF07143 and PF08622) implicated in isoprenoid metabolism and the oxidative stress response, support an involvement in lipid metabolism. Clusters of conserved residues that interact with ligand mimetics suggest that the binding and regulation sites map to the N-terminal domain and to the interdomain interface, respectively.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/79347/1/S1744309109037749.pd
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