Kiwoung Yang

Complete chloroplast and ribosomal sequences for 30 accessions elucidate evolution of Oryza AA genome species.

Cytoplasmic chloroplast (cp) genomes and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nR) are the primary sequences used to understand plant diversity and evolution. We introduce a high-throughput method to simultaneously obtain complete cp and nR sequences using Illumina platform whole-genome sequence. We applied the method to 30 rice specimens belonging to nine Oryza species. Concurrent phylogenomic analysis using cp and nR of several of specimens of the same Oryza AA genome species provides insight into the evolution and domestication of cultivated rice, clarifying three ambiguous but important issues in the evolution of wild Oryza species. First, cp-based trees clearly classify each lineage but can be biased by inter-subspecies cross-hybridization events during speciation. Second, O. glumaepatula, a South American wild rice, includes two cytoplasm types, one of which is derived from a recent interspecies hybridization with O. longistminata. Third, the Australian O. rufipogan-type rice is a perennial form of O. meridionalis.

Identification and expression analysis of glucosinolate biosynthetic genes and estimation of glucosinolate contents in edible organs of Brassica oleracea subspecies.

Glucosinolates are anti-carcinogenic, anti-oxidative biochemical compounds that defend plants from insect and microbial attack. Glucosinolates are abundant in all cruciferous crops, including all vegetable and oilseed Brassica species. Here, we studied the expression of glucosinolate biosynthesis genes and determined glucosinolate contents in the edible organs of a total of 12 genotypes of Brassica oleracea: three genotypes each from cabbage, kale, kohlrabi and cauliflower subspecies. Among the 81 genes analyzed by RT-PCR, 19 are transcription factor-related, two different sets of 25 genes are involved in aliphatic and indolic biosynthesis pathways and the rest are breakdown-related. The expression of glucosinolate-related genes in the stems of kohlrabi was remarkably different compared to leaves of cabbage and kale and florets of cauliflower as only eight genes out of 81 were expressed in the stem tissues of kohlrabi. In the stem tissue of kohlrabi, only one aliphatic transcription factor-related gene, Bol036286 (MYB28) and one indolic transcription factor-related gene, Bol030761 (MYB51), were expressed. The results indicated the expression of all genes is not essential for glucosinolate biosynthesis. Using HPLC analysis, a total of 16 different types of glucosinolates were identified in four subspecies, nine of them were aliphatic, four of them were indolic and one was aromatic. Cauliflower florets measured the highest number of 14 glucosinolates. Among the aliphatic glucosinolates, only gluconapin was found in the florets of cauliflower. Glucoiberverin and glucobrassicanapin contents were the highest in the stems of kohlrabi. The indolic methoxyglucobrassicin and aromatic gluconasturtiin accounted for the highest content in the florets of cauliflower. A further detailed investigation and analyses is required to discern the precise roles of each of the genes for aliphatic and indolic glucosinolate biosynthesis in the edible organs.

Expression Profiling of Glucosinolate Biosynthetic Genes in Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata Inbred Lines Reveals Their Association with Glucosinolate Content

Glucosinolates are the biochemical compounds that provide defense to plants against pathogens and herbivores. In this study, the relative expression level of 48 glucosinolate biosynthesis genes was explored in four morphologically-different cabbage inbred lines by qPCR analysis. The content of aliphatic and indolic glucosinolate molecules present in those cabbage lines was also estimated by HPLC analysis. The possible association between glucosinolate accumulation and related gene expression level was explored by principal component analysis (PCA). The genotype-dependent variation in the relative expression level of different aliphatic and indolic glucosinolate biosynthesis genes is the novel result of this study. A total of eight different types of glucosinolates, including five aliphatic and three indolic glucosinolates, was detected in four cabbage lines. Three inbred lines BN3383, BN4059 and BN4072 had no glucoraphanin, sinigrin and gluconapin detected, but the inbred line BN3273 had these three aliphatic glucosinolate compounds. PCA revealed that a higher expression level of ST5b genes and lower expression of GSL-OH was associated with the accumulation of these three aliphatic glucosinolate compounds. PCA further revealed that comparatively higher accumulation of neoglucobrassicin in the inbred line, BN4072, was associated with a high level of expression of MYB34 (Bol017062) and CYP81F1 genes. The Dof1 and IQD1 genes probably trans-activated the genes related to biosynthesis of glucoerucin and methoxyglucobrassicin for their comparatively higher accumulation in the BN4059 and BN4072 lines compared to the other two lines, BN3273 and BN3383. A comparatively higher progoitrin level in BN3273 was probably associated with the higher expression level of the GSL-OH gene. The cabbage inbred line BN3383 accounted for the significantly higher relative expression level for the 12 genes out of 48, but this line had comparatively lower total glucosinolates detected compared to the other three cabbage lines. The reason for the genotypic variation in gene expression and glucosinolate accumulation is a subject of further investigation.

Exogenous Methyl Jasmonate and Salicylic Acid Induce Subspecies-Specific Patterns of Glucosinolate Accumulation and Gene Expression in Brassica oleracea L.

Glucosinolates have anti-carcinogenic properties. In the recent decades, the genetics of glucosinolate biosynthesis has been widely studied, however, the expression of specific genes involved in glucosinolate biosynthesis under exogenous phytohormone treatment has not been explored at the subspecies level in Brassica oleracea. Such data are vital for strategies aimed at selective exploitation of glucosinolate profiles. This study quantified the expression of 38 glucosinolate biosynthesis-related genes in three B. oleracea subspecies, namely cabbage, broccoli and kale, and catalogued associations between gene expression and increased contents of individual glucosinolates under methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) treatments. Glucosinolate accumulation and gene expression in response to phytohormone elicitation was subspecies specific. For instance, cabbage leaves showed enhanced accumulation of the aliphatic glucoiberin, progoitrin, sinigrin and indolic neoglucobrassicin under both MeJA and SA treatment. MeJA treatment induced strikingly higher accumulation of glucobrassicin (GBS) in cabbage and kale and of neoglucobrassicin (NGBS) in broccoli compared to controls. Notably higher expression of ST5a (Bol026200), CYP81F1 (Bol028913, Bol028914) and CYP81F4 genes was associated with significantly higher GBS accumulation under MeJA treatment compared to controls in all three subspecies. CYP81F4 genes, trans-activated by MYB34 genes, were expressed at remarkably high levels in all three subspecies under MeJA treatment, which also induced in higher indolic NGBS accumulation in all three subspecies. Remarkably higher expression of MYB28 (Bol036286), ST5b, ST5c, AOP2, FMOGS-OX5 (Bol031350) and GSL-OH (Bol033373) was associated with much higher contents of aliphatic glucosinolates in kale leaves compared to the other two subspecies. The genes expressed highly could be utilized in strategies to selectively increase glucosinolate compounds in B. oleracea subspecies. These results promote efforts to develop genotypes of B. oleracea and other species with enhanced levels of desired glucosinolates.

Diversity and Inheritance of Intergenic Spacer Sequences of 45S Ribosomal DNA among Accessions of Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata

Ribosomal DNA (rDNA) of plants is present in high copy number and shows variation between and within species in the length of the intergenic spacer (IGS). The 45S rDNA of flowering plants includes the 5.8S, 18S and 25S rDNA genes, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS1 and ITS2), and the intergenic spacer 45S-IGS (25S-18S). This study identified six different types of 45S-IGS, A to F, which at 363 bp, 1121 bp, 1717 bp, 1969 bp, 2036 bp and 2111 bp in length, respectively, were much shorter than the reported reference IGS sequences in B. oleracea var. alboglabra. The shortest two IGS types, A and B, lacked the transcription initiation site, non-transcribed spacer, and external transcribed spacer. Functional behavior of those two IGS types in relation to rRNA synthesis is a subject of further investigation. The other four IGSs had subtle variations in the transcription termination site, guanine-cytosine (GC) content, and number of tandem repeats, but the external transcribed spacers of these four IGSs were quite similar in length. The 45S IGSs were found to follow Mendelian inheritance in a population of 15 F1s and their 30 inbred parental lines, which suggests that these sequences could be useful for development of new breeding tools. In addition, this study represents the first report of intra-specific (within subspecies) variation of the 45S IGS in B. oleracea.

Detection of Ribosomal DNA Sequence Polymorphisms in the Protist Plasmodiophora brassicae for the Identification of Geographical Isolates

Clubroot is a soil-borne disease caused by the protist Plasmodiophora brassicae (P. brassicae). It is one of the most economically important diseases of Brassica rapa and other cruciferous crops as it can cause remarkable yield reductions. Understanding P. brassicae genetics, and developing efficient molecular markers, is essential for effective detection of harmful races of this pathogen. Samples from 11 Korean field populations of P. brassicae (geographic isolates), collected from nine different locations in South Korea, were used in this study. Genomic DNA was extracted from the clubroot-infected samples to sequence the ribosomal DNA. Primers and probes for P. brassicae were designed using a ribosomal DNA gene sequence from a Japanese strain available in GenBank (accession number AB526843; isolate NGY). The nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence of P. brassicae, comprising 6932 base pairs (bp), was cloned and sequenced and found to include the small subunits (SSUs) and a large subunit (LSU), internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2), and a 5.8s. Sequence variation was observed in both the SSU and LSU. Four markers showed useful differences in high-resolution melting analysis to identify nucleotide polymorphisms including single- nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), oligonucleotide polymorphisms, and insertions/deletions (InDels). A combination of three markers was able to distinguish the geographical isolates into two groups.

Developmental and Genotypic Variation in Leaf Wax Content and Composition, and in Expression of Wax Biosynthetic Genes in Brassica oleracea var. capitata

Cuticular waxes act as a protective barrier against environmental stresses. In the present study, we investigated developmental and genotypic variation in wax formation of cabbage lines, with a view to understand the related morphology, genetics and biochemistry. Our studies revealed that the relative expression levels of wax biosynthetic genes in the first-formed leaf of the highest-wax line remained constantly higher but were decreased in other genotypes with leaf aging. Similarly, the expression of most of the tested genes exhibited decrease from the inner leaves to the outer leaves of 5-month-old cabbage heads in the low-wax lines in contrast to the highest-wax line. In 10-week-old plants, expression of wax biosynthetic genes followed a quadratic function and was generally increased in the early developing leaves but substantially decreased at the older leaves. The waxy compounds in all cabbage lines were predominately C29-alkane, -secondary alcohol, and -ketone. Its deposition was increased with leaf age in 5-month-old plants. The high-wax lines had dense, prominent and larger crystals on the leaf surface compared to low-wax lines under scanning electron microscopy. Principal component analysis revealed that the higher expression of LTP2 genes in the lowest-wax line and the higher expression of CER3 gene in the highest-wax line were probably associated with the comparatively lower and higher wax content in those two lines, respectively. This study furthers our understanding of the relationships between the expression of wax biosynthetic genes and the wax deposition in cabbage lines. Highlight: In cabbage, expression of wax-biosynthetic genes was generally decreased in older and senescing leaves, while wax deposition was increased with leaf aging, and C29-hydrocarbon was predominant in the wax crystals.

Whole-genome sequencing of Brassica oleracea var. capitata reveals new diversity of the mitogenome

Plant mitochondrial genomes (mtDNAs) vary in sequence structure. We assembled the Brassica oleracea var. capitata mtDNA using a mean coverage depth of 25X whole genome sequencing (WGS) and confirmed the presence of eight contigs/fragments by BLASTZ using the previously reported KJ820683 and AP012988 mtDNA as reference. Assembly of the mtDNA sequence reads resulted in a circular structure of 219,975 bp. Our assembled mtDNA, NCBI acc. no. KU831325, contained 34 protein-coding genes, 3 rRNA genes, and 19 tRNA genes with similarity to the KJ820683 and AP012988 reference mtDNA. No large repeats were found in the KU831325 assembly. However, KU831325 showed differences in the arrangement of bases at different regions compared to the previously reported mtDNAs. In the reference mtDNAs KJ820683 and AP012988, contig/fragment number 4 is partitioned into two contigs/fragments, 4a and 4b. However, contig/fragment number 4 was a single contig/fragment with 29,661 bp in KU831325. PCR and qRT-PCR using flanking markers from separate parts of contig/fragment number 4 confirmed it to be a single contig/fragment. In addition, genome re-alignment of the plastid genome and mtDNAs supported the presence of heteroplasmy and reverse arrangement of the heteroplasmic blocks within the other mtDNAs compared to KU831325 that might be one of the causal factors for its diversity. Our results thus confirm the existence of different mtDNAs in diverse B. oleracea subspecies.

Development of Molecular Markers for Low Raffinose and Stachyose in Korean Soybean Cultivars

A novel allele of the putative soybean raffinose synthase gene, RS2, was discovered in PI200508 that is associated with the low raffinose and stachyose content. Soybean line PI200508 was identified as expressing reduced levels of raffinose and stachyose as well as elevated levels of sucrose. The RS2 mutant gene shows three base pairs InDel with the normal gene. Based on InDel region we developed novel co-dominant and dominant marker. The aim of this study was to develop Korean soybean cultivars, Daewon, Cheongja, and Danmiput, containing low levels of raffinose and stachyose. A specific markers assay for the PI200508 RS2 allele was developed to allow direct selection of the low raffinose and stachyose phenotype. Our findings highlight the efficiency of allele-specific markers in selection, which is evident in the matching genotype and results of the HPLC in the F2 generations of Daewon×PI200508 population.

The complete chloroplast genome of Korean popular Citrus hybrid Hallabong mandarin [(Citrus unshiu×C. sinensis)×C. reticulate] (Rutaceae)

Abstract A Citrus hybrid, Hallabong mandarin, is a major Citrus tree largely cultivated in Korea. The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Hallabong mandarin was characterized by de novo assembly using whole genome next generation sequences. The chloroplast genome was 160 703 bp in length and separated into four distinct regions such as large single copy region (87 922 bp), small single copy region (18 801 bp) and a pair of inverted repeat regions (26 990 bp). The genome contained a total of 114 genes including 80 protein-coding genes, 30 tRNA genes and 4 rRNA genes. Phylogenetic inference using chloroplast genome sequences revealed that Hallabong mandarin was close to Citrus aurantiifolia (Omani lime) and Citrus sinensis (sweet orange).