Unravelling the complex trait of harvest index in rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) with association mapping

Background

Harvest index (HI), the ratio of grain yield to total biomass, is considered as a measure of biological success in partitioning assimilated photosynthate to the harvestable product. While crop production can be dramatically improved by increasing HI, the underlying molecular genetic mechanism of HI in rapeseed remains to be shown.

Results

In this study, we examined the genetic architecture of HI using 35,791 high-throughput single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped by the Illumina BrassicaSNP60 Bead Chip in an association panel with 155 accessions. Five traits including plant height (PH), branch number (BN), biomass yield per plant (BY), harvest index (HI) and seed yield per plant (SY), were phenotyped in four environments. HI was found to be strongly positively correlated with SY, but negatively or not strongly correlated with PH. Model comparisons revealed that the A–D test (ADGWAS model) could perfectly balance false positives and statistical power for HI and associated traits. A total of nine SNPs on the C genome were identified to be significantly associated with HI, and five of them were identified to be simultaneously associated with HI and SY. These nine SNPs explained 3.42 % of the phenotypic variance in HI.

Conclusions

Our results showed that HI is a complex polygenic phenomenon that is strongly influenced by both environmental and genotype factors. The implications of these results are that HI can be increased by decreasing PH or reducing inefficient transport from pods to seeds in rapeseed. The results from this association mapping study can contribute to a better understanding of natural variations of HI, and facilitate marker-based breeding for HI.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-015-1607-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Systems genetic analysis of hippocampal neuroanatomy and spatial learning in mice

Variation in hippocampal neuroanatomy correlates well with spatial learning ability in mice. Here, we have studied both hippocampal neuroanatomy and behavior in 53 isogenic BXD recombinant strains derived from C57BL/6J and DBA/2J parents. A combination of experimental, neuroinformatic and systems genetics methods was used to test the genetic bases of variation and covariation among traits. Data were collected on seven hippocampal subregions in CA3 and CA4 after testing spatial memory in an eight‐arm radial maze task. Quantitative trait loci were identified for hippocampal structure, including the areas of the intra‐ and infrapyramidal mossy fibers (IIPMFs), stratum radiatum and stratum pyramidale, and for a spatial learning parameter, error rate. We identified multiple loci and gene variants linked to either structural differences or behavior. Gpc4 and Tenm2 are strong candidate genes that may modulate IIPMF areas. Analysis of gene expression networks and trait correlations highlight several processes influencing morphometrical variation and spatial learning.     

Assembly defects induce oxidative stress in inherited mitochondrial complex I deficiency

Complex I (CI) deficiency is the most common respiratory chain defect representing more than 30% of mitochondrial diseases. CI is an L-shaped multi-subunit complex with a peripheral arm protruding into the mitochondrial matrix and a membrane arm. CI sequentially assembled into main assembly intermediates: the P (pumping), Q (Quinone) and N (NADH dehydrogenase) modules. In this study, we analyzed 11 fibroblast cell lines derived from patients with inherited CI deficiency resulting from mutations in the nuclear or mitochondrial DNA and impacting these different modules. In patient cells carrying a mutation located in the matrix arm of CI, blue native-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (BN-PAGE) revealed a significant reduction of fully assembled CI enzyme and an accumulation of intermediates of the N module. In these cell lines with an assembly defect, NADH dehydrogenase activity was partly functional, even though CI was not fully assembled. We further demonstrated that this functional N module was responsible for ROS production through the reduced flavin mononucleotide. Due to the assembly defect, the FMN site was not re-oxidized leading to a significant oxidative stress in cell lines with an assembly defect. These findings not only highlight the relationship between CI assembly and oxidative stress, but also show the suitability of BN-PAGE analysis in evaluating the consequences of CI dysfunction. Moreover, these data suggest that the use of antioxidants may be particularly relevant for patients displaying a CI assembly defect.     

Genomic imprinting: A missing piece of the Multiple Sclerosis puzzle?

Evidence for parent-of-origin effects in complex diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) strongly suggests a role for epigenetic mechanisms in their pathogenesis. In this review, we describe the importance of accounting for parent-of-origin when identifying new risk variants for complex diseases and discuss how genomic imprinting, one of the best-characterized epigenetic mechanisms causing parent-of-origin effects, may impact etiology of complex diseases. While the role of imprinted genes in growth and development is well established, the contribution and molecular mechanisms underlying the impact of genomic imprinting in immune functions and inflammatory diseases are still largely unknown. Here we discuss emerging roles of imprinted genes in the regulation of inflammatory responses with a particular focus on the Dlk1 cluster that has been implicated in etiology of experimental MS-like disease and Type 1 Diabetes. Moreover, we speculate on the potential wider impact of imprinting via the action of imprinted microRNAs, which are abundantly present in the Dlk1 locus and predicted to fine-tune important immune functions. Finally, we reflect on how unrelated imprinted genes or imprinted genes together with non-imprinted genes can interact in so-called imprinted gene networks (IGN) and suggest that IGNs could partly explain observed parent-of-origin effects in complex diseases. Unveiling the mechanisms of parent-of-origin effects is therefore likely to teach us not only about the etiology of complex diseases but also about the unknown roles of this fascinating phenomenon underlying uneven genetic contribution from our parents.This article is part of a Directed Issue entitled: Epigenetics dynamics in development and disease.     

Crystal Structure of Barley Limit Dextrinase-Limit Dextrinase Inhibitor (LD-LDI) Complex Reveals Insights into Mechanism and Diversity of Cereal Type Inhibitors

Molecular details underlying regulation of starch mobilization in cereal seed endosperm remain unknown despite the paramount role of this process in plant growth. The structure of the complex between the starch debranching enzyme barley limit dextrinase (LD), hydrolyzing α-1,6-glucosidic linkages, and its endogenous inhibitor (LDI) was solved at 2.7 Å. The structure reveals an entirely new and unexpected binding mode of LDI as compared with previously solved complex structures of related cereal type family inhibitors (CTIs) bound to glycoside hydrolases but is structurally analogous to binding of dual specificity CTIs to proteases. Site-directed mutagenesis establishes that a hydrophobic cluster flanked by ionic interactions in the protein-protein interface is vital for the picomolar affinity of LDI to LD as assessed by analysis of binding by using surface plasmon resonance and also supported by LDI inhibition of the enzyme activity. A phylogenetic analysis identified four LDI-like proteins in cereals among the 45 sequences from monocot databases that could be classified as unique CTI sequences. The unprecedented binding mechanism shown here for LDI has likely evolved in cereals from a need for effective inhibition of debranching enzymes having characteristic open active site architecture. The findings give a mechanistic rationale for the potency of LD activity regulation and provide a molecular understanding of the debranching events associated with optimal starch mobilization and utilization during germination. This study unveils a hitherto not recognized structural basis for the features endowing diversity to CTIs.     

The Streptomyces coelicolor Lipoate-protein Ligase Is a Circularly Permuted Version of the Escherichia coli Enzyme Composed of Discrete Interacting Domains

Lipoate-protein ligases are used to scavenge lipoic acid from the environment and attach the coenzyme to its cognate proteins, which are generally the E2 components of the 2-oxoacid dehydrogenases. The enzymes use ATP to activate lipoate to its adenylate, lipoyl-AMP, which remains tightly bound in the active site. This mixed anhydride is attacked by the ϵ-amino group of a specific lysine present on a highly conserved acceptor protein domain, resulting in the amide-linked coenzyme. The Streptomyces coelicolor genome encodes only a single putative lipoate ligase. However, this protein had only low sequence identity (<25%) to the lipoate ligases of demonstrated activity and appears to be a circularly permuted version of the known lipoate ligase proteins in that the canonical C-terminal domain seems to have been transposed to the N terminus. We tested the activity of this protein both by in vivo complementation of an Escherichia coli ligase-deficient strain and by in vitro assays. Moreover, when the domains were rearranged into a protein that mimicked the arrangement found in the canonical lipoate ligases, the enzyme retained complementation activity. Finally, when the two domains were separated into two proteins, both domain-containing proteins were required for complementation and catalysis of the overall ligase reaction in vitro. However, only the large domain-containing protein was required for transfer of lipoate from the lipoyl-AMP intermediate to the acceptor proteins, whereas both domain-containing proteins were required to form lipoyl-AMP.     

Analysis of the Binding Moiety Mediating the Interaction between Monocarboxylate Transporters and Carbonic Anhydrase II

Proton-coupled monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) mediate the exchange of high energy metabolites like lactate between different cells and tissues. We have reported previously that carbonic anhydrase II augments transport activity of MCT1 and MCT4 by a noncatalytic mechanism, while leaving transport activity of MCT2 unaltered. In the present study, we combined electrophysiological measurements in Xenopus oocytes and pulldown experiments to analyze the direct interaction between carbonic anhydrase II (CAII) and MCT1, MCT2, and MCT4, respectively. Transport activity of MCT2-WT, which lacks a putative CAII-binding site, is not augmented by CAII. However, introduction of a CAII-binding site into the C terminus of MCT2 resulted in CAII-mediated facilitation of MCT2 transport activity. Interestingly, introduction of three glutamic acid residues alone was not sufficient to establish a direct interaction between MCT2 and CAII, but the cluster had to be arranged in a fashion that allowed access to the binding moiety in CAII. We further demonstrate that functional interaction between MCT4 and CAII requires direct binding of the enzyme to the acidic cluster ⁴³¹EEE in the C terminus of MCT4 in a similar fashion as previously shown for binding of CAII to the cluster ⁴⁸⁹EEE in the C terminus of MCT1. In CAII, binding to MCT1 and MCT4 is mediated by a histidine residue at position 64. Taken together, our results suggest that facilitation of MCT transport activity by CAII requires direct binding between histidine 64 in CAII and a cluster of glutamic acid residues in the C terminus of the transporter that has to be positioned in surroundings that allow access to CAII.     

The FBXL10/KDM2B Scaffolding Protein Associates with Novel Polycomb Repressive Complex-1 to Regulate Adipogenesis

Polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) plays an essential role in the epigenetic repression of gene expression during development and cellular differentiation via multiple effector mechanisms, including ubiquitination of H2A and chromatin compaction. However, whether it regulates the stepwise progression of adipogenesis is unknown. Here, we show that FBXL10/KDM2B is an anti-adipogenic factor that is up-regulated during the early phase of 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation and in adipose tissue in a diet-induced model of obesity. Interestingly, inhibition of adipogenesis does not require the JmjC demethylase domain of FBXL10, but it does require the F-box and leucine-rich repeat domains, which we show recruit a noncanonical polycomb repressive complex 1 (PRC1) containing RING1B, SKP1, PCGF1, and BCOR. Knockdown of either RING1B or SKP1 prevented FBXL10-mediated repression of 3T3-L1 preadipocyte differentiation indicating that PRC1 formation mediates the inhibitory effect of FBXL10 on adipogenesis. Using ChIP-seq, we show that FBXL10 recruits RING1B to key specific genomic loci surrounding the key cell cycle and the adipogenic genes Cdk1, Uhrf1, Pparg1, and Pparg2 to repress adipogenesis. These results suggest that FBXL10 represses adipogenesis by targeting a noncanonical PRC1 complex to repress key genes (e.g. Pparg) that control conversion of pluripotent cells into the adipogenic lineage.