Comparative Transcriptome Analysis between a Novel Allohexaploid Cotton Progeny CMS Line LD6A and Its Maintainer Line LD6B

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is an important agronomic feature and provides an effective tool for heterosis utilization of crops. This study reports the comparative transcriptomic sketches between a novel allohexaploid cotton progeny CMS line LD6A and its maintainer line LD6B using de novo transcriptome sequencing technology at the pollen abortion stage. A total of 128,901 Unigenes were identified, in which 2007 were upregulated and 11,864 were downregulated. The significantly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in LD6A show a distant and diverse genetic nature due to their distant hybrid hexaploidy progeny. Further analysis revealed that most of the DEGs participated in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, histone acetyltransferase activity, sepal development, stigma development, cotyledon development and microsporogenesis. A highly differentially expressed toxic protein, Abrin, was identified in the CMS line LD6A, which can catalyze the inactivation of ribosomes and consequently lead to cell death through the mitochondrial pathway in human cells. Twelve DEGs were selected randomly to validate transcriptome data using quantitative reverse-transcribed PCR (qRT-PCR). This study will contribute to new ideas and foundations related to the molecular mechanism of CMS and the innovation of cotton germplasm resources.

Hepatitis-C (HCV)-Related Social Stigma; Development of a Scale

In the past two decades, there has been a substantial research on disease related stigma especially the HIV stigma. However, only a few studies address the issue of HCV related social stigma. Through this study a scale was developed to measure HCV related social stigma. The scale was developed using literature review and interview with 26 individuals divided in five different groups. The nineteen item scale developed after this activity was distributed among 221 respondents. Results indicate that the scale shows robust psychometric properties with good alpha value having a four factor solution. The results are discussed with theoretical and practical implications that how this scale will facilitate measurement of HCV related social stigma in future studies.

AUTOMATED CONSTRUCTION OF TRANSCRIPTOME DATABASES FOR UNCHARACTERISED-GENOME PLANTS, SUCH AS OLIVE TREE

Transcriptome databases are an important source of structural and functional information about an organism, for example, plants without a sequenced genome. This is the case of the olive tree (Olea europaea L.), one of the most important oil-producing plant species all over the world. In addition, reproductive tissues and seeds are the less studied part of these plant species in spite of their importance in allergies, germination success, plant sterility, as well as being an important source of valuable components for agro-food industries, including seed storage proteins and trialcylglycerides. Therefore, an automated workflow has been developed using our tool AutoFlow to construct an annotated transcriptome from raw reads (Sanger, Illumina or Roche/454 or a combination of them) combining open source software (Bowtie2, CAP2, Euler-SR, MIRA3, Velvet/Oases, AutoFact, MREPS, GigaBayes…) with software developed by our group (SeqTrimNext, Full-LengtherNext, Sma3). The resulting transcriptomes were used to build a database ReprOlive (http://reprolive.eez.csic.es) where descriptions, GO terms, InterPro signatures, EC numbers, graphical localization of enzymes in KEGG pathways, ORFs, SSRs, and the corresponding orthologues in Arabidopsis thaliana from TAIR and RefSeq can be browsed. Finally, expression data can be accessed and, in addition to a BLAST search, a the semantic conceptualization using RDF allowing for Linked Data search was implemented to extract the most updated information related to enzymes, interactions, allergens, and structures. The olive tree reproductive transcriptome was constructed from 2,077,309 raw reads (454/Roche Titanium+) and 1,549 Sanger sequences from different stages of pollen and stigma development, resulting in 72,846 contigs, of which 63,965 (87.8%) included at least one functional annotation, and 55,356 (75.9%) had an orthologue. Using different seed stages, 1,425,911 raw reads (454/Roche Titanium+) are in use for obtaining the seed transcriptome. Uses of these transcriptomes can be found in communications by Carmona et al. and JIménez-Quesada et al. in this congress. This work was supported by co-funding from the ERDF and Spanish MINECO and Andalusian PAIDI to the grants BFU2011-22779, TIN2011-25840, TIN2014-58304-R, P10-CVI-6075, P10-AGR-6274, P11-CVI-7487, P11-TIC-7529 and P12-TIC-1519. Authors also acknowledge the use of the SCBI facilities of UMA.