Gambetta, G. A. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2020

VviMYB41 orthologs contribute to the water deficit induced suberization of grapevine fine roots

The permeability of roots to water and nutrients is controlled through a variety of mechanisms and one of the most conspicuous is the presence of structures such as the Casparian strips and suberin lamellae. Roots actively regulate the creation of these structures developmentally, along the length of the root, and in response to the environment, including abiotic stresses such as drought. In the current study, we characterized the suberin composition along the length of grapevine fine roots during development and in response to water deficit. In parallel samples we quantified changes in expression of suberin biosynthesis- and deposition-related gene families (via RNAseq) allowing the identification of drought-responsive suberin-related genes. Grapevine suberin composition did not differ between primary and lateral roots, and was similar to that of other species. Under water deficit there was a global upregulation of suberin biosynthesis which resulted in an increase of suberin specific monomers, but without changes in their relative abundances, and this upregulation took place across all the developmental stages of fine roots. These changes corresponded to the upregulation of numerous suberin biosynthesis- and deposition-related genes which included orthologs of the previously characterized AtMYB41 transcriptional factor. Functional validation of two grapevine MYB41 orthologs, VviMYB41 and VviMYB41-like, confirmed their ability to globally upregulate suberin biosynthesis and deposition. This study provides a detailed characterization of the developmental and water deficit induced suberization of grapevine fine roots and identifies important orthologs responsible for suberin biosynthesis, deposition, and its regulation in grape. One sentence summaryOur study details the biochemical changes and molecular regulation of how grapevines decrease their root permeability during drought.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Minimally invasive, pressure probe based sampling allows for in-situ gene expression analyses in plant cells.

BackgroundGene expression analyses are conducted using multiple approaches and increasingly research has been focused on assessing gene expression at the level of a tissue or even single-cells. To date, methods to assess gene expression at the single-cell in plant tissues have been semi-quantitative, require tissue disruption, and/or involve laborious, possibly artifact-inducing manipulation. In this work, we used grape berries (Vitis vinifera L. Zinfandel) as a model in order to examine the validity and reproducibility of an in-situ gene expression analysis method combining a cell pressure probe (CPP) with quantitative PCR (qPCR).\n\nResultsWe developed a method to directly assess gene expression levels via qPCR from cellular fluids sampled in-situ with a CPP. Cellular fluids, with volumes in the picoliter range, were collected from intact berries with a CPP at various depths across skin and mesocarp tissues. The expression of a key anthocyanin biosynthetic gene, UDP-glucose: flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase (VviUFGT), was analyzed as a test case since its expression is restricted to cells producing anthocyanins in grape berry skins during ripening. The method identifies samples contaminated with significant levels of genomic DNA by amplifying a region of VviUFGT that spans an intron. Therefore false positives were discarded which occurred in 28% of the samples tested. Shallow probing of skin cells showed high VviUFGT expression as expected while deeper probing of mesocarp cells resulted in no VviUFGT expression.\n\nConclusionsThe clear correspondence of VviUFGT expression to the targeted cell samples suggests that the in-situ gene expression analysis using a CPP is reliable and does not result in contamination as the probe moves through tissues. This method can be paired to single-cell transcriptomic analyses in the future. We conclude that this technique represents a minimally invasive method of sampling plant cells in-situ which creates an opportunity for the analysis of cellular level, spatiotemporal responses in heterogeneous plant tissues.

plant biology↗