Biology subjects

Baulcombe, D. C.

Publications and source records attributed to Baulcombe, D. C..

7 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Virus-induced overexpression of heterologous FT for efficient speed breeding in tomato.

Potato Virus X (PVX) vectors expressing the Arabidopsis thaliana FT or tomato FT ortholog SINGLE-FLOWER TRUSS (SFT) accelerated tomato flowering time by 14-21d and increased by 2-3 fold the number of flowers and ripe fruit compared with non-infected or empty vector-infected plants. The Arabidopsis FT was more effective than the tomato orthologue and there was no alteration of the plant architecture, leaf, flower, or fruit morphology. The virus is not transmitted to the next generation and viral vectors with expression of a heterologous FT will be a useful approach to speed breeding in tomato and other species.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2022

A plant virus causes symptoms through the deployment of a host-mimicking protein domain to attract the insect vector

Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites with limited proteomes that heavily rely on the cell molecular machinery for their multiplication and spread. Plant viruses frequently cause symptoms through interference with host developmental programs. Despite the agricultural relevance of symptom development in virus-infected crops, the molecular mechanisms underlying these viral effects remain elusive. Here, we show that the symptoms triggered by tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) depend on the physical interaction between the host-mimicking domain of a virus-encoded protein, C4, and a plant-specific family of RCC1-like domain-containing (RLD) proteins. C4 outcompetes endogenous interactors of RLDs, disrupting RLD function in the regulation of endomembrane trafficking and polar auxin transport, ultimately leading to the developmental alterations recognized as symptoms of the viral infection. Importantly, symptoms do not have a detectable effect on the performance of the virus in the plant host, but they serve as attractants for the viral insect vector, the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, hence promoting pathogen spread. Our work uncovers the molecular underpinnings of the viral manipulation that leads to symptom development in the TYLCV-tomato pathosystem, and suggests that symptoms have evolved as a strategy to promote viral transmission by the insect vector. Given that most plant viruses are insect-transmitted, the principles described here might have broad applicability to crop-virus interactions.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Endogenous virus sRNA regulates gene expression following genome shock in tomato hybrids

Hybridization and environmental stress trigger genome shock that perturbs patterns of gene expression leading to phenotypic changes. In extreme examples it is associated to transposon mobilization and genome rearrangement. Here we discover a novel alternative mechanism in interspecific Solanum hybrids in which changes to gene expression were associated with DCL2-mediated small (s)RNAs derived from endogenous (para)retroviruses (EPRVs). Correspondingly, the altered patterns of gene expression overlapped with the effects of dcl2 mutation and the changes to sRNA profiles involved 22nt species produced in the DCL2 biogenesis pathway. These findings implicate hybridization-induced genome shock leading to EPRV activation and sRNA silencing as causing changes in gene expression. Such hybridization-induced variation in gene expression could increase the range of traits available for selection in natural evolution or in breeding for agriculture.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2021

CHROMOMETHYLTRANSFERASE3/KRYPTONITE maintain the sulfurea paramutation in Solanum lycopersicum

Paramutation involves the transfer of a repressive epigenetic mark from a silent allele to an active homologue and, consequently, non-Mendelian inheritance. In tomato the sulfurea (sulf) paramutation is associated with a high level of CHG hypermethylation in a region overlapping the transcription start site of the SlTAB2 gene that affects chlorophyll synthesis. The CCG sub-context hypermethylation is under-represented at this region relative to CTG or CAG implicating the CHROMOMETHYLTRANSFERASE3 (CMT3) in paramutation at this locus. Consistent with this interpretation, loss of CMT3 function leads to loss of the sulf chlorosis, the associated CHG hypermethylation and paramutation. Loss of KRYPTONITE (KYP) histone methyl transferase function has a similar effect linked to reduced H3K9me2 at the promoter region of SlTAB2 and a shift in higher order chromatin structure at this locus. Mutation of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase V (PolV) in contrast does not affect sulf paramutation. These findings indicate the involvement of a CMT3/KYP dependent feedback rather than the PolV-dependent pathway leading to RNA directed DNA methylation (RdDM) in the maintenance of paramutation.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Environmental and epigenetic regulation of Rider retrotransposons in tomato

Transposable elements in crop plants are the powerful drivers of phenotypic variation that has been selected during domestication and breeding programs. In tomato, transpositions of the LTR (long terminal repeat) retrotransposon family Rider have contributed to various phenotypes of agronomical interest, such as fruit shape and colour. However, the mechanisms regulating Rider activity are largely unknown. We have developed a bioinformatics pipeline for the functional annotation of retrotransposons containing LTRs and defined all full-length Rider elements in the tomato genome. Subsequently, we showed that accumulation of Rider transcripts and transposition intermediates in the form of extrachromosomal DNA is triggered by drought stress and relies on abscisic acid signalling. We provide evidence that residual activity of Rider is controlled by epigenetic mechanisms involving siRNAs and the RNA-dependent DNA methylation pathway. Finally, we demonstrate the broad distribution of Rider-like elements in other plant species, including crops. Thus our work identifies Rider as an environment-responsive element and a potential source of genetic and epigenetic variation in plants.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2017

A first global phylogeny of Maize chlorotic mottle virus

Maize chlorotic mottle virus has been rapidly spreading around the globe over the past decade. The interactions of Maize chlorotic mottle virus with potyviridae viruses causes an aggressive synergistic viral condition - maize lethal necrosis, which can cause total yield loss. Maize production in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is the most important cereal, is threatened by the arrival of maize lethal necrosis. We obtained Maize chlorotic mottle virus genome sequences from across East Africa and for the first time from Ecuador and Hawaii, and constructed a phylogeny which highlights the similarity of Chinese to African isolates, and Ecuadorian to Hawaiian isolates. We used a measure of clustering, the adjusted Rand index, to extract region-specific SNPs and coding variation that can be used for diagnostics. The population genetics analysis we performed shows that the majority of sequence diversity is partitioned between populations, with diversity extremely low within China and East Africa.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2016

mRNA turnover through CDS-targeting is the primary role of miRNA in the green alga Chlamydomonas.

MicroRNAs regulate gene expression as part of the RNA-induced silencing complex, where the sequence identity of the miRNA provides the specificity to the target messenger RNA, and the result is target repression. The mode of repression can be through target cleavage, RNA destabilization and/or decreased translational efficiency. Here, we provide a comprehensive global analysis of the evolutionarily distant unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to quantify the effects of miRNA on protein synthesis and RNA abundance. We show that, similar to metazoan systems, miRNAs in Chlamydomonas regulate gene-expression primarily by destabilizing mRNAs. However, unlike metazoan miRNA where target site utilization localizes mainly to 3UTRs, in Chlamydomonas utilized target sites lie predominantly within coding regions. These results demonstrate that destabilization of mRNA is the main evolutionarily conserved mode of action for miRNAs, but details of the mechanism diverge between plant and metazoan kingdoms.

molecular biology↗