Unique evolutionary pattern of numbers of gramineous NBS–LRR genes

Nucleotide binding site (NBS)–leucine-rich repeat (LRR) genes belong to the largest class of disease-resistance gene super groups in plants, and their intra- or interspecies nucleotide variations have been studied extensively to understand their evolution and function. However, little is known about the evolutionary patterns of their copy numbers in related species. Here, 129, 245, 239 and 508 NBSs were identified in maize, sorghum, brachypodium and rice, respectively, suggesting considerable variations of these genes. Based on phylogenetic relationships from a total of 496 ancestral branches of grass NBS families, three gene number variation patterns were categorized: conserved, sharing two or more species, and species-specific. Notably, the species-specific NBS branches are dominant (71.6%), while there is only a small percentage (3.83%) of conserved families. In contrast, the conserved families are dominant in 51 randomly selected house-keeping genes (96.1%). The opposite patterns between NBS and the other gene groups suggest that natural selection is responsible for the drastic number variation of NBS genes. The rapid expansion and/or contraction may be a fundamentally important strategy for a species to adapt to the quickly changing species-specific pathogen spectrum. In addition, the small proportion of conserved NBSs suggests that the loss of NBSs may be a general tendency in grass species.     

Genetic diversity of NBS–LRR class disease-resistance gene analogs in cultivated and wild eggplants

The genes encoding the nucleotide-binding site (NBS) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) motifs constitute a large gene family in plants and have attracted much interest, because most of the plant disease-resistance genes that have been cloned are from this gene family. In this study, degenerate oligonucleotide primers, designed on the basis of conserved regions of the NBS domains from known plant resistance genes, were used to isolate resistance gene analogs (RGAs) from cultivated and wild eggplants, i.e., S. melongena, S. aethiopicum gr. Gilo, S. linnaeanum, S. integrifolium, S. sisymbriifolium, and S. khasianum. Sequence analysis indicated that the cloned eggplant RGAs belong to the non-TIR–NBS–LRR type, which are very similar to the R genes or the RGAs identified in other plant species, especially Solanaceae plants, suggesting the existence of common ancestors. Wide genetic diversity of eggplant RGAs was observed both in interspecific and intraspecific sequences, and eight distinct families of eggplant RGAs were identified. Further studies revealed a high average ratio of synonymous to non-synonymous substitution and a low level of recombination. These results suggest that NBS-encoding sequences of RGAs in cultivated and wild eggplants are subject to gradual accumulation of mutations leading to purifying selection. This is the first report of NBS–LRR class RGAs in eggplants.     

A candidate gene for fire blight resistance in Malus × robusta 5 is coding for a CC–NBS–LRR

Fire blight is the most important bacterial disease in apple (Malus?×? domestica) and pear (Pyrus communis) production. Today, the causal bacterium Erwinia amylovora is present in many apple- and pear-growing areas. We investigated the natural resistance of the wild apple Malus?×? robusta 5 against E. amylovora, previously mapped to linkage group 3. With a fine-mapping approach on a population of 2,133 individuals followed by phenotyping of the recombinants from the region of interest, we developed flanking markers useful for marker-assisted selection. Open reading frames were predicted on the sequence of a BAC spanning the resistance locus. One open reading frame coded for a protein belonging to the NBS–LRR family. The in silico investigation of the structure of the candidate resistance gene against fire blight of M.?×? robusta 5, FB_MR5, led us hypothesize the presence of a coiled-coil region followed by an NBS and an LRR-like structure with the consensus ‘LxxLx[IL]xxCxxLxxL’. The function of FB_MR5 was predicted in agreement with the decoy/guard model, that FB_MR5 monitors the transcribed RIN4_MR5, a homolog of RIN4 of Arabidopsis thaliana that could interact with the previously described effector AvrRpt2_EA of E. amylovora.     

云南悬钩子蔷薇NBS LRR类抗病基因同源克隆与分析

为研究云南野生蔷薇属中的NBS类抗病基因,根据已知抗病基因NBS LRR序列中的保守区域设计简并引物,利用RT PCR技术从云南悬钩子蔷薇中进行体外扩增,获得了对应区域的cDNA片段,回收、克隆这些特异片段,测序分析,共得到4个含有NBS LRR保守结构域的抗病基因同源序列(RGAs),分别命名为AC9、AC39、AC50和AC68。它们与已报道的11个NBS类抗病基因相应区段的氨基酸序列相似性为5.4%~79.2%,其中这4个RGAs片段与Mi、RPS2、Pib和RPM1基因聚为一类。表明这4条RGAs序列可进一步用作悬钩子蔷薇抗病候选基因的分子筛选及遗传图谱的构建。     

应用寡核苷酸探针检测甘薯基因组中NBS与LRR序列数目

以含编码NBS及LRR结构域序列的PCR扩增产物作标准对照,根据P-LOOP模体及LRR结构域氨基酸序列设计寡核苷酸探针,应用Southern杂交定量检测甘薯基因组中NBS与LRR序列的拷贝数目。结果表明,甘薯基因组中存在多个拷贝的NBS与LRR编码序列,经计算初步获得了其在基因组中的拷贝数目,为揭示甘薯抗病分子机制及植物抗病分子育种打下基础。     

Identification of Botryticidal Proteins with Similarity to NBS–LRR Proteins in Rosemary Pepper (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Lippia sidoides</Emphasis> Cham.) Flowers

Heavy agricultural losses are closely related to attacks by insect-pests and phytopathogens such as bacteria and fungi. Among them, the fungus Botrytis cinerea can cause gray mold in more than 200 different species of plants, and is considered a challenging problem for agribusiness. Fungicides are commonly used to control this pathogen because they are fast-working and easy to apply. However, the continuous use of fungicides may promote the selection of resistant fungi and can also cause profound contamination in ecosystems. Aiming to find alternative strategies to solve these problems, several studies have focused on searching for plant proteins and peptides with antifungal activities (AFPs). With this in mind, this report shows the isolation and characterization of two novels antifungal proteins from flowers of rosemary pepper (Lippia sidoides Cham.) with 10 and 15 kDa. Isolation was performed by using an Octyl-Sepharose hydrophobic column. In vitro bioassays indicated that isolated proteins were able to inhibit B. cinerea development, but were not effective against all bacteria tested. Moreover, N-termini sequences indicate that both proteins showed sequence homology with NBS–LRR R proteins with a lower molecular mass, suggesting possible protein fragmentation. Data reported here could help in the development of biotechnological products for crop protection against phytopathogenic fungi in the near future.     

小麦Mlo及NBS—LRR类抗病基因同源序列的分离与鉴定

根据GenBank中公布的大麦白粉病抗性控制基因MlocDNA序列及一个来源于栽培一粒小麦（Triticum monococcumL.)的假定抗病基因序列分别设计引物,以携带小麦抗白粉病基因的近等基因系为材料进行RT-PCR筛选。结果获得两个表达基因的cDNA克隆。其中一个与大麦白粉病抗性控制基因Mlo的同源性达83%。另一个为非通读序列,含有两个可能的开放阅读框,分别包含抗病基因NBS保守结构域2和3以及与水稻抗稻瘟病基因Pib蛋白末端相似的13个LRR区域,推测该序列属于NBS-LRR类。白粉菌诱导前后,该片段RT-PCR扩增产物存在差异。表明该片段可能与小麦抗病性相关。利用“中国春”缺体-四体系,将该NBS-LRR类序列定位在小麦1D染色体上。     

青稞NBS LRR类基因HvtRGA的克隆与条纹病胁迫表达分析

为探索青稞(Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum)NBS LRR类基因在青稞抗条纹病中的分子作用机制,该研究以抗条纹病青稞品种‘昆仑14号’和感病品种‘Z1141’为材料,从叶片中克隆了HvtRGA 基因。HvtRGA基因长3 544 bp,包含一个3 306 bp开放阅读框,编码1 101个氨基酸。序列测序后比对发现,‘昆仑14号’与‘Z1141’的碱基序列相似性为99.89%,‘Z1141’的碱基在1196和1945位置处由G替换成A,但氨基酸序列相似性为100%。蛋白质序列分析表明,HvtRGA为亲水性的不稳定酸性蛋白,具有NB ARC保守结构域和5个LRR结构域,属于 NBS LRR 家族。HvtRGA蛋白与大麦的rgaS 9217、rgaS 226编码的NBS LRR氨基酸序列相似性分别为96.55%和88.72%。进化树分析表明,青稞与小麦族的大麦、硬粒小麦和二穗短柄草NBS LRR聚为一个分支,且与大麦 rgaS 9217编码的蛋白亲缘关系最近,其次是大麦rgaS 226编码的蛋白,而与狗尾草和栗的亲缘关系最远。qRT PCR结果表明,条纹病胁迫下,抗病品种和感病品种的HvtRGA基因的表达量极显著升高,且抗病品种‘昆仑14号’感病后基因表达量显著高于感病品种‘Z1141’。研究推测,HvtRGA 基因在青稞抗条纹病的调控过程中可能发挥着重要作用。     

稻属NBS—LRR类基因的克隆及抗稻瘟病基因的表达

利用已克隆植物的R基因NBS序列中保守基序设计简并引物进行PCR扩增是克隆NBS有效的方法。从广东普通野生稻HLW028中克隆出3条序列,经同源性分析均为NBS,序列号为DQ272573～DQ272575。从NCBI中下载普通野生水稻和功能已知的水稻NBS—LRR类基因,与本试验所提交的NBS进行聚类分析。这些NBS可分为5大类,其中DQ272574是一个新的NBS基因类型。从野生水稻中克隆NBS基因存在P—loop、RNBS。A、kin-2、RNBS．B、RNBS—C和PLAL的基序。RT—PCR结果表明,培矮64中的Pikh的表达量比2种野生稻中高。从培矮64中扩增出1个完整读码框的cDNA。     

Isolation of TIR and nonTIR NBS–LRR resistance gene analogues and identification of molecular markers linked to a powdery mildew resistance locus in chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt)

Toll and interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) and nonTIR nucleotide binding site–leucine rich repeat (NBS–LRR) resistance gene analogues (RGAs) were obtained from chestnut rose (Rosa roxburghii Tratt) by two PCR-based amplification strategies (direct amplification and overlap extension amplification) with degenerate primers designed to the conserved P-loop, kinase-2, and Gly-Leu-Pro-Leu (GLPL) motifs within the NBS domain of plant resistance gene (R gene) products. Thirty-four of 65 cloned PCR fragments contained a continuous open reading frame (ORF) and their predicted protein products showed homology to the NBS–LRR class R proteins in the GenBank database. These 34 predicted protein sequences exhibited a wide range (19.5–99.4%) of sequence identity among them and were classified into two distinct groups by phylogenetic analysis. The first group consisted of 23 sequences and seemed to belong to the nonTIR NBS–LRR RGAs, since they contained group specific motifs (RNBS-A-nonTIR motif) that are often present in the coiled-coil domain of the nonTIR NBS–LRR class R genes. The second group comprised 11 sequences that contained motifs found in the TIR domain of TIR NBS–LRR class R genes. Restriction fragment length polymorphic (RFLP) markers were developed from some of the RGAs and used for mapping powdery mildew resistance genes in chestnut rose. Three markers, RGA22C, RGA4A, and RGA7B, were identified to be linked to a resistance gene locus, designated CRPM1 for chestnut rose powdery mildew resistance 1, which accounted for 72% of the variation in powdery mildew resistance phenotype in an F1 segregating population. To our knowledge, this is the first report on isolation, phylogenetic analysis and potential utilization as genetic markers of RGAs in chestnut rose.     

参与植物天然免疫的LRR型蛋白

植物含有多种富含亮氨酸重复序列(LRRs)结构的蛋白质,它们在植物天然免疫中发挥着重要作用。参与植物防御反应的LRR型蛋白家族包括:类受体蛋白激酶、抗病基因编码蛋白质、多聚半乳糖醛酸酶抑制蛋白和伸展蛋白家族。最近,人们发现植物免疫系统包含:病原相关分子模式(PAMP)激发的免疫性(PTI),即类受体蛋白激酶识别病原菌PAMPs,启动植物防卫反应;病原菌效应子激发的免疫性(ETI),即抗病基因编码蛋白质识别效应子,启动植物防卫反应。除此之外,细胞壁是植物细胞的天然保护屏障。多聚半乳糖醛酸酶抑制蛋白和伸展蛋白通过维护细胞壁,抵御病原菌入侵。我们综述了植物中LRRs蛋白的结构特征与不同种类的LRR蛋白介导免疫反应的分子机制,讨论了LRR型蛋白在植物免疫过程中的意义及存在的问题,指出搜寻配体和下游信号分子将是LRR型蛋白研究热点。     

In-silico mining,type and frequency analysis of genic microsatellites of finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.): a comparative genomic analysis of NBS–LRR regions of finger millet with rice

In recent years, the increased availability of the DNA sequences has given the possibility to develop and explore the expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived SSR markers. In the present study, a total of 1956 ESTs of finger millet were used to find the microsatellite type, distribution, frequency and developed a total of 545 primer pairs from the ESTs of finger millet. Thirty-two EST sequences had more than two microsatellites and 1357 sequences did not have any SSR repeats. The most frequent type of repeats was trimeric motif, however the second place was occupied by dimeric motif followed by tetra-, hexa- and penta repeat motifs. The most common dimer repeat motif was GA and in case of trimeric SSRs, it was CGG. The EST sequences of NBS-LRR region of finger millet and rice showed higher synteny and were found on nearly same positions on the rice chromosome map. A total of eight, out of 15 EST based SSR primers were polymorphic among the selected resistant and susceptible finger millet genotypes. The primer FMBLEST5 could able to differentiate them into resistant and susceptible genotypes. The alleles specific to the resistant and susceptible genotypes were sequenced using the ABI 3130XL genetic analyzer and found similarity to NBS–LRR regions of rice and finger millet and contained the characteristic kinase-2 and kinase 3a motifs of plant R-genes belonged to NBS–LRR region. The In-silico and comparative analysis showed that the genes responsible for blast resistance can be identified, mapped and further introgressed through molecular breeding approaches for enhancing the blast resistance in finger millet.     

高等植物的LRR蛋白：结构与功能

ＬＲＲ结构存在于细胞定位和功能上各不相同的多种蛋白质中,与蛋白质之间的相互作用和细胞内信号传递过程密切相关。植物中含ＬＲＲ的蛋白主要有类受体蛋白激酶,抗病编码的蛋白和多聚半乳糖酸酶抑制蛋白等,它们分别在细胞的生长发育,抗病反应等过程中发挥着重要作用,其相似的ＬＲＲ结构为从分子水平上研究这些蛋白的作用机制提供了结构基础。     

高等植物的LRR蛋白:结构与功能

ＬＲＲ结构存在于细胞定位和功能上各不相同的多种蛋白质中,与蛋白质之间的相互作用和细胞内的信号传递过程密切相关。植物中含ＬＲＲ的蛋白主要有类受体蛋白激酶、抗病基因编码的蛋白和多聚半乳糖醛酸酶抑制蛋白等,它们分别在细胞的生长发育、抗病反应等过程中发挥着重要作用,其相似的ＬＲＲ结构为从分子水平上研究这些蛋白的作用机制提供了结构基础。     

植物NBS类抗病基因的进化

NBS(Nucleotide-binding site)类抗病基因是植物中最重要的一类抗病基因, 其进化模式、结构特点和功能调控一直是抗病基因研究领域的热点。这类基因具有保守的结构域, 广泛存在于植物基因组中, 在不同植物基因组中数目差异较大且具有较低的表达量。此外, 同源NBS类抗病基因之间通过频繁的序列交换产生广泛的序列多样性, 且抗病基因位点具有较差的线性。依据基因之间序列交换的频率, 抗病基因可分为TypeⅠ和TypeⅡ两类。文章从抗病基因的结构、数量、分布、序列多样性、进化模式以及表达调控等方面进行了综述, 旨在为后续NBS类抗病基因的相关研究提供参考。     

三角帆蚌LRR基因的分子特征及表达分析

近年来珠蚌养殖业一直饱受病害困扰,现有资料表明富亮氨酸重复序列(leucine-rich repeat,LRR)蛋白在无脊椎动物的蛋白互作、识别过程和免疫反应中都起到至关重要的作用,本实验通过RACE法克隆并表达了三角帆蚌LRR基因,全长为3 492 bp,其中开放阅读框2 142 bp,编码713个氨基酸,其中5个氨基酸组成信号肽,而其余688个氨基酸则形成成熟肽,氨基酸序列经相关软件预测存在跨膜结构。运用荧光定量PCR技术分析LRR在正常组织中及受到嗜水气单胞菌侵染后相关组织表达量的变化,分析发现,在非胁迫状态下,LRR基因在斧足中高表达,在其他组织中几乎不表达。嗜水气单胞菌刺激侵染后可以看到斧足和肝胰腺中LRR基因表达显著下调,而其他组织表达量在不同时间点均出现表达峰值,显示能被显著诱导,说明LRR基因表达可能与抵挡病原体入侵有关。     

L’homme-lion d’Hohlenstein – Stadel

The fragments of the figurine called “lion-man” were found in 1939 in the cave of Hohlenstein-Stadel, in southwestern Germany. Joachim Hahn was the first to assemble the figure in 1969; the statuette was then restored between 1987 and 1988 in the workshops of the regional museum of Württemberg in Stuttgart. New excavations, conducted by the State Office for Cultural Heritage of Baden-Württemberg (Esslingen, Germany), were held in the same cave between 2009 and 2013. Then, hundreds of small fragments were found; some of them clearly belonged to the lion-man. Following these excavations, a second restoration was undertaken in the workshops of the State office of Cultural Heritage in 2012 and 2013. The Lion-Man, the tallest of the figures from the last Ice Age, got a new appearance. After the refitting of the fragments, a large part of the figurine has been completed.