Analysis of formation of parasitic tissue connection using genomics infrastructure for tomato

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23248005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Horticulture/Landscape architecture
• Research Institution: Osaka Prefecture University
• Principal Investigator: AOKI Koh 大阪府立大学, 生命環境科学研究科(系), 教授 (30344021)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YANO Kentaro 明治大学, 農学部, 准教授 (00446543)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 寄生植物 / ネナシカズラ / ヤセウツボ / トマト / 維管束接続 / 細胞壁 / トランスクリプトーム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We first established NGS-based genomic infrastructure by constructing databases TOMATOMICS and Plant Omics Data Center. We investigated the mechanisms how parasitic plants establish cellular connection to host plants. To this end, we used a stem parasitic plant, Cuscuta japonica, and a root parasitic plant, Orobanche aegyptiaca. Differentially expressed genes in the parasitic interface tissue formed between C. japonica and soybean were identified. We developed a bioinformatics method to classify RNA-Seq reads to either the parasite or the host, and analyzed gene expression profiles of the parasite and the host simultaneously. We discovered unforeseen coordination of gene expression between parasite and host plants, such as sequential expression of cell-wall degrading enzyme genes and cell-wall reconstitution genes. By using O. aegyptiaca parasitizing to tomato, we found that liquid-cultured callus segregated to parasitism-competent state and parasitism-incompetent states.

Free Research Field

応用ゲノム科学