Structural insight into dephosphorylation by trehalose 6-phosphate phosphatase (OtsB2) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Trehalose serves as a key structural component in the cell wall of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (MtbTPP), an essential enzyme in the trehalose biosynthesis OtsAB pathway, catalyzes the dephosphorylation of trehalose-6-phosphate (trehalose-6-P) to generate trehalose, and plays a critical role in M. tuberculosis survival-associated cell wall formation and permeability. Therefore, MtbTPP (OtsB2) is considered a promising potential target for discovery of antimicrobial drugs. However, the absence of structural information of MtbTPP restrains our understanding of its underlying catalytic mechanism. Here, we report the high-resolution crystal structures of apo active MtbTPP and its trehalose-6-P bound complex. The apo structure presents a canonical haloacid dehalogenase superfamily structural fold plus an extra N-terminal domain. The catalytic center is located in a positively charged cleft between the hydrolase domain and the cap domain, demonstrating a highly conserved substrate binding pocket. The role of residues interacting with the substrate in catalysis were probed by site-directed mutagenesis. Asp147, Asp149, Asp330, and Asp331 were found to be pivotal for the enzymatic activity of MtbTPP. The MtbTPP structures reported here provide insight into a key step in the biosynthesis of trehalose, which would facilitate future development of anti-TB therapeutics.-Shan, S., Min, H., Liu, T., Jiang, D., Rao, Z. Structural insight into dephosphorylation by trehalose 6-phosphate phosphatase (OtsB2) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The maize d2003, a novel allele of VP8, is required for maize internode elongation.

The d2003 is a natural dwarf mutant from maize inbred line K36 and has less than one-third of K36 plant height with severely shortened internodes. In this study, we reported the cloning of d2003 gene using positional cloning. The results showed that there was a single-base insertion in the coding region of Viviparous8 (VP8) in d2003 mutant, which resulted in a premature stop codon. Further genetic allelism tests confirmed that d2003 mutation is a novel allele of VP8. VP8 is mainly expressed in the stem apex, young leaves, and developing vascular tissues, and its expression levels in nodes are significantly higher than that in internodes at 12-leaf stage. Subcellular localization demonstrated that the VP8 protein is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum and the N-terminal 26 amino acids (aa) of VP8 protein are essential to its localization in ER. Further transgenic experiments showed that lack of the 26 aa leads to loss of VP8 function in Arabidopsis amp1 phenotype rescue. These results strongly suggested that the N-terminal 26 aa is critical for VP8 protein localization, and the correct protein localization of VP8 in ER is necessary for its function.

Resequencing 250 Soybean Accessions: New Insights into Genes Associated with Agronomic Traits and Genetic Networks.

The limited knowledge of genomic diversity and functional genes associated with the traits of soybean varieties has resulted in slow progress in breeding. In this study, we sequenced the genomes of 250 soybean landraces and cultivars from China, America, and Europe, and investigated their population structure, genetic diversity and architecture, and the selective sweep regions of these accessions. Five novel agronomically important genes were identified, and the effects of functional mutations in respective genes were examined. The candidate genes GSTT1, GL3, and GSTL3 associated with the isoflavone content, CKX3 associated with yield traits, and CYP85A2 associated with both architecture and yield traits were found. The phenotype-gene network analysis revealed that hub nodes play a crucial role in complex phenotypic associations. This study describes novel agronomic trait-associated genes and a complex genetic network, providing a valuable resource for future soybean molecular breeding.

Identification of Drought Tolerant Mechanisms in Maize Seedlings Based on Transcriptome Analysis of Recombination Inbred Lines.

Zea mays is an important crop that is sensitive to drought stress, but survival rates and growth status remain strong in some drought-tolerant lines under stress conditions. Under drought conditions, many biological processes, such as photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism and energy metabolism, are suppressed, while little is known about how the transcripts of genes respond to drought stress in the genome-wide rang in the seedling stage. In our study, the transcriptome profiles of two maize recombination inbred lines (drought-tolerant RIL70 and drought-sensitive RIL93) were analyzed at different drought stages to elucidate the dynamic mechanisms underlying drought tolerance in maize seedlings during drought conditions. Different numbers of differentially expressed genes presented in the different stages of drought stress in the two RILs, for the numbers of RIL93 vs. RIL70 were: 9 vs. 358, 477 vs. 103, and 5207 vs. 152 respectively in DT1, DT2, and DT5. Gene Ontology enrichment analysis revealed that in the initial drought-stressed stage, the primary differentially expressed genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis and transmembrane transport biological processes were overrepresented in RIL70 compared to RIL93. On the contrary, differentially expressed genes profiles presented at 2 and 5 day-treatments, the primary differentially expressed genes involved in response to stress, protein folding, oxidation-reduction, photosynthesis and carbohydrate metabolism, were overrepresented in RIL93 compared to RIL70. In addition, the transcription of genes encoding key members of the cell cycle and cell division processes were blocked, but ABA- and programmed cell death-related processes responded positively in RIL93. In contrast, the expression of cell cycle genes, ABA- and programmed cell death-related genes was relatively stable in RIL70. The results we obtained supported the working hypothesis that signaling events associated with turgor homeostasis, as established by cell wall biosynthesis regulation- and aquaporin-related genes, responded early in RIL70, which led to more efficient detoxification signaling (response to stress, protein folding, oxidation-reduction) during drought stress. This energy saving response at the early stages of drought should facilitate more cell activity under stress conditions and result in drought tolerance in RIL70.