Prospects for plant productivity: from the canopy to the nucleus

Population growth has been closely associated with agricultural production, since the first famine predicted by Malthus (1798) up to the Green Revolution of the past century. Today, we continue to face increasing demand for food and crop production (Tilman et al., 2011). Considering the combined caloric or protein content of the 275 major crops used directly as human foods or as livestock and fish feeds, Tilman et al. (2011) forecast a 100% increase in global demand for crops from 2005 to 2050. Meeting this demand with the lowest impact on the environment could be achieved by sustainable intensification of existing cropland with reduced land clearing (Tilman et al., 2011; Fischer and Connor, 2018).EEA PergaminoFil: González, Fernanda G. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Pergamino. Departamento de Ecofisiología; ArgentinaFil: González, Fernanda G. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aire. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (CITNOBA, CONICET- UNNOBA-UNSADA); ArgentinaFil: Manavella, Pablo A. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Bioquímica y Ciencias Biológicas. Instituto de Agrobiotecnología del Litoral (CONICET-UNL); Argentin

The ZFHX1A gene is differentially autoregulated by its isoforms

The Zfhx1a gene expresses two different isoforms; the full length Zfhx1a-1 and a truncated isoform termed Zfhx1a-2 lacking the first exon. Deletion analysis of the Zfhx1a-1 promoter localized cell-specific repressors, and a proximal G-string that is critically required for transactivation. Transfection of Zfhx1a-1 cDNA, but not Zfhx1a-2, downregulates Zfhx1a-1 promoter activity. Mutation of an E2-box disrupted the binding of both Zfhx1a isoforms. Consistent with this, transfected Zfhx1a-1 does not regulate the transcriptional activity of the E-box mutated Zfhx1a-1 promoter. Competitive EMSAs and transfection assays show that Zfhx1a-2 can function as a dominant negative isoform since it is able to compete and displace Zfhx1a-1 from its binding site and overcome Zfhx1a-1 induced repression of the Zfhx1a-1 promoter in cells. Hence, the Zfhx1a-1 gene is autoregulated in part by negative feedback on its own promoter which is, in turn, modified by the availability of the negative dominant isoform Zfhx1a-2.Fil: Manavella, Pablo Andrés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Roqueiro, Gonzalo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Darling, Douglas S.. University of Louisville; Estados UnidosFil: Cabanillas, Ana Maria de Los A.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; Argentin

Polymorphic inverted repeats near coding genes impact chromatin topology and phenotypic traits in Arabidopsis thaliana

Transposons are mobile elements that are commonly silenced to protect eukaryotic genome integrity. In plants, transposable element (TE)-derived inverted repeats (IRs) are commonly found near genes, where they affect host gene expression. However, the molecular mechanisms of such regulation are unclear in most cases. Expression of these IRs is associated with production of 24-nt small RNAs, methylation of the IRs, and drastic changes in local 3D chromatin organization. Notably, many of these IRs differ between Arabidopsis thaliana accessions, causing variation in short-range chromatin interactions and gene expression. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated disruption of two IRs leads to a switch in genome topology and gene expression with phenotypic consequences. Our data show that insertion of an IR near a gene provides an anchor point for chromatin interactions that profoundly impact the activity of neighboring loci. This turns IRs into powerful evolutionary agents that can contribute to rapid adaptation

Genome-wide identification of the Phaseolus vulgaris sRNAome using small RNA and degradome sequencing

Background: MiRNAs and phasiRNAs are negative regulators of gene expression. These small RNAs have been extensively studied in plant model species but only 10 mature microRNAs are present in miRBase version 21, the most used miRNA database, and no phasiRNAs have been identified for the model legume Phaseolus vulgaris. Thanks to the recent availability of the first version of the common bean genome, degradome data and small RNA libraries, we are able to present here a catalog of the microRNAs and phasiRNAs for this organism and, particularly, we suggest new protagonists in the symbiotic nodulation events.Results: We identified a set of 185 mature miRNAs, including 121 previously unpublished sequences, encoded by 307 precursors and distributed in 98 families. Degradome data allowed us to identify a total of 181 targets for these miRNAs. We reveal two regulatory networks involving conserved miRNAs: those known to play crucial roles in the establishment of nodules, and novel miRNAs present only in common bean, suggesting a specific role for these sequences. In addition, we identified 125 loci that potentially produce phased small RNAs, with 47 of them having all the characteristics of being triggered by a total of 31 miRNAs, including 14 new miRNAs identified in this study.Conclusions: We provide here a set of new small RNAs that contribute to the broader knowledge of the sRNAome of Phaseolus vulgaris. Thanks to the identification of the miRNA targets from degradome analysis and the construction of regulatory networks between the mature microRNAs, we present here the probable functional regulation associated with the sRNAome and, particularly, in N2-fixing symbiotic nodules.Peer reviewedBiochemistry and Molecular Biolog

Proyecto, investigación e innovación en urbanismo, arquitectura y diseño industrial

Actas de congresoLas VII Jornadas de Investigación “Encuentro y Reflexión” y I Jornadas de Investigación de becarios y doctorandos. Proyecto, investigación e innovación en Urbanismo, Arquitectura y Diseño Industrial se centraron en cuatro ejes: el proyecto; la dimensión tecnológica y la gestión; la dimensión social y cultural y la enseñanza en Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño Industrial, sustentados en las líneas prioritarias de investigación definidas epistemológicamente en el Consejo Asesor de Ciencia y Tecnología de esta Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Con el objetivo de afianzar continuidad, formación y transferencia de métodos, metodología y recursos se incorporó becarios y doctorandos de los Institutos de investigación. La Comisión Honoraria la integraron las tres Secretarias de Investigación de la Facultad, arquitectas Marta Polo, quien fundó y María del Carmen Franchello y Nora Gutiérrez Crespo quienes continuaron la tradición de la buena práctica del debate en la cotidianeidad de la propia Facultad. Los textos que conforman las VII Jornadas son los avances y resultados de las investigaciones realizadas en el bienio 2016-2018.Fil: Novello, María Alejandra. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Repiso, Luciana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Mir, Guillermo. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Brizuela, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Herrera, Fernanda. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Períes, Lucas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Romo, Claudia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Gordillo, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; ArgentinaFil: Andrade, Elena Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Arquitectura, Urbanismo y Diseño; Argentin

patrimonio intelectual

Actas de congresoLas VI Jornadas se realizaron con la exposición de ponencias que se incluyeron en cuatro ejes temáticos, que se desarrollaron de modo sucesivo para facilitar la asistencia, el intercambio y el debate, distribuidos en tres jornadas. Los ejes temáticos abordados fueron: 1. La enseñanza como proyecto de investigación. Recursos de enseñanza-aprendizaje como mejoras de la calidad educativa. 2. La experimentación como proyecto de investigación. Del ensayo a la aplicabilidad territorial, urbana, arquitectónica y de diseño industrial. 3. Tiempo y espacio como proyecto de investigación. Sentido, destino y usos del patrimonio construido y simbólico. 4. Idea constructiva, formulación y ejecución como proyecto de investigación. Búsqueda y elaboración de resultados que conforman los proyectos de la arquitectura y el diseño

Germline-transmitted genome editing in Arabidopsis thaliana Using TAL-effector-nucleases.

Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) are custom-made bi-partite endonucleases that have recently been developed and applied for genome engineering in a wide variety of organisms. However, they have been only scarcely used in plants, especially for germline-modification. Here we report the efficient creation of small, germline-transmitted deletions in Arabidopsis thaliana via TALENs that were delivered by stably integrated transgenes. Using meristem specific promoters to drive expression of two TALEN arms directed at the CLV3 coding sequence, we observed very high phenotype frequencies in the T2 generation. In some instances, full CLV3 loss-of-function was already observed in the T1 generation, suggesting that transgenic delivery of TALENs can cause highly efficient genome modification. In contrast, constitutive TALEN expression in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) did not cause additional phenotypes and genome re-sequencing confirmed little off-target effects, demonstrating exquisite target specificity