Biology subjects

Alassimone, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Alassimone, J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

A thousand-genome panel retraces the global spread and climatic adaptation of a major crop pathogen

Human activity impacts the evolutionary trajectories of many species worldwide. Global trade of agricultural goods contributes to the dispersal of pathogens reshaping their genetic makeup and providing opportunities for virulence gains. Understanding how pathogens surmount control strategies and cope with new climates is crucial to predicting the future impact of crop pathogens. Here, we address this by assembling a global thousand-genome panel of Zymoseptoria tritici, a major fungal pathogen of wheat reported in all production areas worldwide. We identify the global invasion routes and ongoing genetic exchange of the pathogen among wheat-growing regions. We find that the global expansion was accompanied by increased activity of transposable elements and weakened genomic defenses. Finally, we find significant standing variation for adaptation to new climates encountered during the global spread. Our work shows how large population genomic panels enable deep insights into the evolutionary trajectory of a major crop pathogen.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2021

Arabidopsis stomatal polarity protein BASL mediates distinct processes before and after cell division to coordinate cell size and fate asymmetries

In many land plants, asymmetric cell divisions (ACDs) create and pattern differentiated cell types on the leaf surface. In the Arabidopsis stomatal lineage, BREAKING OF ASYMMETRY IN THE STOMATAL LINEAGE (BASL) regulates multiple aspects of ACD including division plane placement and cell fate enforcement. Polarized subcellular localization of BASL is initiated before the ACD and persists for many hours after the division in one of the two daughters. Untangling the respective contributions of polarized BASL before and after division is essential to gain a better understanding of its roles in regulating stomatal lineage ACDs and to uncover the rules that guide leaf pattern. Here we combine quantitative imaging and lineage tracking with genetic tools that provide temporally-restricted BASL expression. We find that pre-division BASL is required for division orientation, whereas BASL polarity post-division ensures proper cell fate commitment. These genetic manipulations allowed us to uncouple daughter-cell size asymmetry from polarity crescent inheritance, revealing independent effects of these two asymmetries on subsequent cell behavior. Finally, we show that there is coordination between the division frequencies of sister cells produced by ACDs, and this coupling requires BASL as an effector of peptide signaling.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Tuning of self-renewing capacity in theArabidopsis stomatal lineage by hormonaland nutrition regulation of asymmetric celldivisions

Asymmetric and self-renewing divisions build and pattern tissues. In the Arabidopsis thaliana stomatal lineage, asymmetric cell divisions, guided by polarly localized cortical proteins, generate the majority of cells on the leaf surface. These divisions can be fine-tuned by systemic and environmental signals to modify tissue development, but the molecular mechanisms by which plants incorporate such cues to regulate asymmetric divisions are largely unknown. In a screen for modulators of cell polarity and asymmetric divisions, we identified a mutation in CONSTITIUTIVE TRIPLE RESPONSE 1, a negative regulator of ethylene signaling. We subsequently revealed antagonistic impacts of ethylene and glucose signaling on the self-renewing capacity of stomatal lineage stem cells. Quantitative analysis of the impacts of these signaling systems on cell polarity and fate dynamics showed that developmental information may be encoded in both the spatial and temporal asymmetries of polarity proteins. Taken together, our results provide a framework for a mechanistic understanding of how systemic information such as nutritional status and environmental factors tune stem cell behavior in the stomatal lineage, ultimately enabling optimization of leaf size and cell-type composition.

plant biology↗