scholarly journals Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation of the aquatic carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba

Plant Methods ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Oropeza-Aburto ◽  
S. A. Cervantes-Pérez ◽  
V. A. Albert ◽  
L. Herrera-Estrella
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Araceli Oropeza-Aburto ◽  
Sergio Alan Cervantes-Perez ◽  
Victor A Albert ◽  
Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella

Abstract Background The genus Utricularia belongs to Lentibulariaceae, the largest family of carnivorous plants, which includes terrestrial, epiphytic and aquatic species. The development of specialized structures that evolved for carnivory is a feature of this genus that has been of great interest to biologists since Darwin‘s early studies. Utricularia gibba is itself an aquatic plant with sophisticated bladder traps having one of the most complex suction mechanisms for trapping prey. However, the molecular characterization of the mechanisms that regulate trap development and the biophysical processes involved in prey trapping are still largely unknown due to the lack of a simple and reproducible gene transfer system. Results Here, we report the establishment of a simple, fast and reproducible protocol for genetic transformation of U. gibba based on the T-DNA of Agrobacterium tumefaciens . An in vitro selection system using Phosphinotricin as a selective agent was established for U. gibba . Plant transformation was confirmed by histochemical GUS assays and PCR and qRT-PCR analyses. We report on the expression pattern of the 35S promoter and of the promoter of a trap-specific ribonuclease gene in transgenic U. gibba plants. Conclusions The genetic transformation protocol reported here is an effective method for studying developmental biology and functional genomics of this genus of carnivorous plants and advances the utility of U. gibba as a model system to study developmental processes involved in trap formation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Araceli Oropeza-Aburto ◽  
Sergio Alan Cervantes-Perez ◽  
Victor A Albert ◽  
Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella

Abstract Background The genus Utricularia belongs to Lentibulariaceae, the largest family of carnivorous plants, which includes terrestrial, epiphytic and aquatic species. The development of specialized structures that evolved for carnivory is a feature of this genus that has been of great interest to biologists since Darwin‘s early studies. Utricularia gibba is itself an aquatic plant with sophisticated bladder traps having one of the most complex suction mechanisms for trapping prey. However, the molecular characterization of the mechanisms that regulate trap development and the biophysical processes involved in prey trapping are still largely unknown due to the lack of a simple and reproducible gene transfer system. Results Here, we report the establishment of a simple, fast and reproducible protocol for genetic transformation of U. gibba based on the T-DNA of Agrobacterium tumefaciens . An in vitro selection system using Phosphinotricin as a selective agent was established for U. gibba . Plant transformation was confirmed by histochemical GUS assays and PCR and qRT-PCR analyses. We report on the expression pattern of the 35S promoter and of the promoter of a trap-specific ribonuclease gene in transgenic U. gibba plants. Conclusions The genetic transformation protocol reported here is an effective method for studying developmental biology and functional genomics of this genus of carnivorous plants and advances the utility of U. gibba as a model system to study developmental processes involved in trap formation.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Araceli Oropeza-Aburto ◽  
Sergio Alan Cervantes-Perez ◽  
Luis Rafael Herrera-Estrella

Abstract Background Utricularia genus belongs to Lentibulariaceae family and has the highest number of species including terrestrials, epiphytes and aquatics plants. The development of specialized structures that evolved for carnivory is a feature of this genus that has been of great interest to biologist since the early studies of Darwin. Utricularia gibba is an aquatic carnivorous plant with sophisticated bladders traps that have one of the most complex suction mechanisms for trapping a prey. However, the molecular characterization of trap developmental and the biophysical processes involved in prey trapping are still largely unknown due to the lack of simple and reproducible gene transfer system for carnivorous plants.Results Here, we report the establishment of a simple, fast and effective protocol for the genetic transformation of U. gibba based on the T-DNA of Agrobacterium tumefaciens . An in vitro selection system using Phosphinotricin as selective agent was established for U. gibba. We report the tissue specific expression of the 35S promoter and the promoter of a trap specific ribonuclease gene. Plant transformation was confirmed by PCR and Real Time PCR in U. gibba plants.Conclusions We conclude that the genetic transformation protocol we developed is an effective method to study developmental biology and functional genomics of carnivory and propose U. gibba as model to study the developmental processes involved in trap formation.


Planta ◽  
1968 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel R. Sorenson ◽  
William T. Jackson

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 367 (6473) ◽  
pp. 91-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. Whitewoods ◽  
Beatriz Gonçalves ◽  
Jie Cheng ◽  
Minlong Cui ◽  
Richard Kennaway ◽  
...  

Leaves vary from planar sheets and needle-like structures to elaborate cup-shaped traps. Here, we show that in the carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba, the upper leaf (adaxial) domain is restricted to a small region of the primordium that gives rise to the trap’s inner layer. This restriction is necessary for trap formation, because ectopic adaxial activity at early stages gives radialized leaves and no traps. We present a model that accounts for the formation of both planar and nonplanar leaves through adaxial-abaxial domains of gene activity establishing a polarity field that orients growth. In combination with an orthogonal proximodistal polarity field, this system can generate diverse leaf forms and account for the multiple evolutionary origins of cup-shaped leaves through simple shifts in gene expression.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 444-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Carretero-Paulet ◽  
Tien-Hao Chang ◽  
Pablo Librado ◽  
Enrique Ibarra-Laclette ◽  
Luis Herrera-Estrella ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1284-1295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Carretero-Paulet ◽  
Pablo Librado ◽  
Tien-Hao Chang ◽  
Enrique Ibarra-Laclette ◽  
Luis Herrera-Estrella ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (13) ◽  
pp. 9742-9748 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Augustynowicz ◽  
Krzysztof Łukowicz ◽  
Krzysztof Tokarz ◽  
Bartosz Jan Płachno

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Alan Cervantes-Pérez ◽  
Lenin Yong-Villalobos ◽  
Nathalia M. V. Florez-Zapata ◽  
Araceli Oropeza-Aburto ◽  
Félix Rico-Reséndiz ◽  
...  

SummaryThe most studied DNA methylation pathway in plants is the RNA Directed DNA Methylation (RdDM), which is a conserved mechanism that involves noncoding-RNAs to control the expansion of intergenic regions. However, little is known about relationship between plant genome size reductions and DNA methylation.Because the compact genome size of the carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba, we investigate in this plant the noncoding-RNA landscape and DNA methylation through a combination of cytological, evolutionary, and genome-wide transcriptomic and methylation approaches.We report an unusual distribution of noncoding RNAs in U. gibba in comparison with other characterized angiosperms, which correlated with a lower level of global genome methylation, as determined by a novel strategy based on long-read DNA sequencing and corroborated by whole-genome bisulfite analysis. Moreover, found that genes involved in the RdDM pathway may not be functionally active in U. gibba, including a truncated DICER-LIKE 3 (DCL3), involved in the production of 24-nt small-RNAs.Our findings suggest that selective pressure to conserve a fully functional RdDM pathway might be reduced in compact genomes and a defective DCL3 correlate with a decreased proportion of 24-nt small-RNAs and developmental alterations in U. gibba, which could represent an initial step in the evolution of apomixis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Alan Cervantes-Pérez ◽  
Lenin Yong-Villalobos ◽  
Nathalia M. V. Florez-Zapata ◽  
Araceli Oropeza-Aburto ◽  
Félix Rico-Reséndiz ◽  
...  

AbstractThe most studied DNA methylation pathway in plants is the RNA Directed DNA Methylation (RdDM), a conserved mechanism that involves the role of noncoding RNAs to control the expansion of the noncoding genome. Genome-wide DNA methylation levels have been reported to correlate with genome size. However, little is known about the catalog of noncoding RNAs and the impact on DNA methylation in small plant genomes with reduced noncoding regions. Because of the small length of intergenic regions in the compact genome of the carnivorous plant Utricularia gibba, we investigated its repertoire of noncoding RNA and DNA methylation landscape. Here, we report that, compared to other angiosperms, U. gibba has an unusual distribution of small RNAs and reduced global DNA methylation levels. DNA methylation was determined using a novel strategy based on long-read DNA sequencing with the Pacific Bioscience platform and confirmed by whole-genome bisulfite sequencing. Moreover, some key genes involved in the RdDM pathway may not represented by compensatory paralogs or comprise truncated proteins, for example, U. gibba DICER-LIKE 3 (DCL3), encoding a DICER endonuclease that produces 24-nt small-interfering RNAs, has lost key domains required for complete function. Our results unveil that a truncated DCL3 correlates with a decreased proportion of 24-nt small-interfering RNAs, low DNA methylation levels, and developmental abnormalities during female gametogenesis in U. gibba. Alterations in female gametogenesis are reminiscent of RdDM mutant phenotypes in Arabidopsis thaliana. It would be interesting to further study the biological implications of the DCL3 truncation in U. gibba, as it could represent an initial step in the evolution of RdDM pathway in compact genomes.


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