GhDRIN1, a novel drought-induced gene of upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) confers abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in transgenic tobacco.

A novel stress tolerance cDNA fragment encoding GhDRIN1 protein was identified and its regulation was studied in cotton boll tissues and seedlings subjected to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Phylogenetic and conserved domain prediction indicated that GhDRIN1 was annotated with a hypothetical protein of unknown function. Subcellular localization showed that GhDRIN1 is localized in the chloroplasts. The promoter sequence was isolated and subjected to in silico study. Various cis-acting elements responsive to biotic and abiotic stresses and hormones were found. Transgenic tobacco seedlings exhibited better growth on amended MS medium and showed minimal leaf damage in insect bioassays carried out with Helicoverpa armigera larvae. Transgenic tobacco showed better tolerance to water-deficit and fast recovered upon rewatering. Present work demonstrated that GhDRIN1, a novel stress tolerance gene of cotton, positively regulates the response to biotic and abiotic stresses in transgenic tobacco.

Screening of different Trichoderma species against agriculturally important foliar plant pathogens.

Different isolates of Trichoderma were isolated from soil samples which were collected from different part of India. These isolates were grouped into four Trichoderma species viz., Trichoderma asperellum (Ta), T. harzianum (Th), T. pseudokoningii (Tp) and T. longibrachiatum (Tl) based on their morphological characters. Identification of the above isolates was also confirmed through ITS region analysis. These Trichoderma isolates were tested for in vitro biological control of Alternaria solani, Bipolaris oryzae, Pyricularia oryzae and Sclerotinia scierotiorum which cause serious diseases like early blight (target spot) of tomato and potato, brown leaf spot disease in rice, rice blast disease, and white mold disease in different plants. Under in vitro conditions, all the four species of Trichoderma (10 isolates) proved 100% potential inhibition against rice blast pathogen Pyracularia oryzae. T. harzianum (Th-01) and T. asperellum (Ta-10) were effective with 86.6% and 97.7%, growth inhibition of B. oryzae, respectively. Among others, T. pseudokoningii (Tp-08) and T. Iongibrachiatum (Tl-09) species were particularly efficient in inhibiting growth of S. sclerotiorum by 97.8% and 93.3%. T. Iongibrachiatum (TI-06 and TI-07) inhibited maximum mycelial growth of A. solani by 87.6% and 84.75. However, all the T. harzianum isolates showed significantly higher inhibition against S. sclerotiorum (CD value 9.430), causing white mold disease. This study led to the selection of potential Trichoderma isolates against rice blast, early blight, brown leaf spot in rice and white mold disease in different crops.

Integrated Metabarcoding and Culturomic-Based Microbiome Profiling of Rice Phyllosphere Reveal Diverse and Functional Bacterial Communities for Blast Disease Suppression.

Phyllosphere-the harsh foliar plant part exposed to vagaries of environmental and climatic variables is a unique habitat for microbial communities. In the present work, we profiled the phyllosphere microbiome of the rice plants using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing (hereafter termed metabarcoding) and the conventional microbiological methods (culturomics) to decipher the microbiome assemblage, composition, and their functions such as antibiosis and defense induction against rice blast disease. The blast susceptible rice genotype (PRR78) harbored far more diverse bacterial species (294 species) than the resistant genotype (Pusa1602) that showed 193 species. Our metabarcoding of bacterial communities in phyllomicrobiome revealed the predominance of the phylum, Proteobacteria, and its members Pantoea, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, and Erwinia on the phyllosphere of both rice genotypes. The microbiological culturomic validation of metabarcoding-taxonomic annotation further confirmed the prevalence of 31 bacterial isolates representing 11 genera and 16 species with the maximum abundance of Pantoea. The phyllomicrobiome-associated bacterial members displayed antifungal activity on rice blast fungus, Magnaporthe oryzae, by volatile and non-volatile metabolites. Upon phyllobacterization of rice cultivar PB1, the bacterial species such as Enterobacter sacchari, Microbacterium testaceum, Pantoea ananatis, Pantoea dispersa, Pantoea vagans, Pseudomonas oryzihabitans, Rhizobium sp., and Sphingomonas sp. elicited a defense response and contributed to the suppression of blast disease. qRT-PCR-based gene expression analysis indicated over expression of defense-associated genes such as OsCEBiP, OsCERK1, and phytohormone-associated genes such as OsPAD4, OsEDS1, OsPR1.1, OsNPR1, OsPDF2.2, and OsFMO in phyllobacterized rice seedlings. The phyllosphere bacterial species showing blast suppressive activity on rice were found non-plant pathogenic in tobacco infiltration assay. Our comparative microbiome interrogation of the rice phyllosphere culminated in the isolation and identification of agriculturally significant bacterial communities for blast disease management in rice farming through phyllomicrobiome engineering in the future.

Evaluation of Suitable Reference Genes for Normalization of qPCR Gene Expression Studies in Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) During Fruit Developmental Stages.

Brinjal/eggplant/aubergine is one of the major solanaceous vegetable crops. Recent availability of genome information greatly facilitates the fundamental research on brinjal. Gene expression patterns during different stages of fruit development can provide clues towards the understanding of its biological functions. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) has become one of the most widely used methods for rapid and accurate quantification of gene expression. However, its success depends on the use of a suitable reference gene for data normalization. For qPCR analysis, a single reference gene is not universally suitable for all experiments. Therefore, reference gene validation is a crucial step. Suitable reference genes for qPCR analysis of brinjal fruit development have not been investigated so far. In this study, we have selected 21 candidate reference genes from the Brinjal (Solanum melongena) Plant Gene Indices database (compbio.dfci.harvard.edu/tgi/plant.html) and studied their expression profiles by qPCR during six different fruit developmental stages (0, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 50 days post anthesis) along with leaf samples of the Pusa Purple Long (PPL) variety. To evaluate the stability of gene expression, geNorm and NormFinder analytical softwares were used. geNorm identified SAND (SAND family protein) and TBP (TATA binding protein) as the best pairs of reference genes in brinjal fruit development. The results showed that for brinjal fruit development, individual or a combination of reference genes should be selected for data normalization. NormFinder identified Expressed gene (expressed sequence) as the best single reference gene in brinjal fruit development. In this study, we have identified and validated for the first time reference genes to provide accurate transcript normalization and quantification at various fruit developmental stages of brinjal which can also be useful for gene expression studies in other Solanaceae plant species.