Lanxiang Wang1, Moxian Chen2,3,4, Fuyuan Zhu5, Tao Fan2, Jianhua Zhang6, Clive Lo7. 1. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. 2. Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China. 3. Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, and State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. 4. Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, 518055, China. 5. Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China. 6. Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, and State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong. jzhang1@hkbu.edu.hk. 7. School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. clivelo@hku.hk.
Abstract
MAIN CONCLUSION: This study provides new insights that alternative splicing participates with transcriptional control in defense responses to Colletotrichum sublineola in sorghum In eukaryotic organisms, alternative splicing (AS) is an important post-transcriptional mechanism to generate multiple transcript isoforms from a single gene. Protein variants translated from splicing isoforms may have altered molecular characteristics in signal transduction and metabolic activities. However, which transcript isoforms will be translated into proteins and the biological functions of the resulting proteoforms are yet to be identified. Sorghum is one of the five major cereal crops, but its production is severely affected by fungal diseases. For example, sorghum anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum sublineola greatly reduces grain yield and biomass production. In this study, next-generation sequencing technology was used to analyze C. sublineola-inoculated sorghum seedlings compared with mock-inoculated control. It was identified that AS regulation may be as important as traditional transcriptional control during defense responses to fungal infection. Moreover, several genes involved in flavonoid and phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathways were found to undergo multiple AS modifications. Further analysis demonstrated that non-conventional targets of both 5'- and 3'-splice sites were alternatively used in response to C. sublineola infection. Splicing factors were also affected at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. As the first transcriptome report on C. sublineola infected sorghum, our work also suggested that AS plays crucial functions in defense responses to fungal invasion.
MAIN CONCLUSION: This study provides new insights that alternative splicing participates with transcriptional control in defense responses to Colletotrichum sublineola in sorghum In eukaryotic organisms, alternative splicing (AS) is an important post-transcriptional mechanism to generate multiple transcript isoforms from a single gene. Protein variants translated from splicing isoforms may have altered molecular characteristics in signal transduction and metabolic activities. However, which transcript isoforms will be translated into proteins and the biological functions of the resulting proteoforms are yet to be identified. Sorghum is one of the five major cereal crops, but its production is severely affected by fungal diseases. For example, sorghum anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum sublineola greatly reduces grain yield and biomass production. In this study, next-generation sequencing technology was used to analyze C. sublineola-inoculated sorghum seedlings compared with mock-inoculated control. It was identified that AS regulation may be as important as traditional transcriptional control during defense responses to fungal infection. Moreover, several genes involved in flavonoid and phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathways were found to undergo multiple AS modifications. Further analysis demonstrated that non-conventional targets of both 5'- and 3'-splice sites were alternatively used in response to C. sublineola infection. Splicing factors were also affected at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. As the first transcriptome report on C. sublineola infected sorghum, our work also suggested that AS plays crucial functions in defense responses to fungal invasion.
Authors: William A Laing; Marcela Martínez-Sánchez; Michele A Wright; Sean M Bulley; Di Brewster; Andrew P Dare; Maysoon Rassam; Daisy Wang; Roy Storey; Richard C Macknight; Roger P Hellens Journal: Plant Cell Date: 2015-02-27 Impact factor: 11.277
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