The phylum Apicomplexa is a quintessentially parasitic lineage, whose members infect a broad range of animals. One exception to this may be the apicomplexan genus Nephromyces, which has been described as having a mutualistic relationship with its host. Here we analyze transcriptome data from Nephromyces and its parasitic sister taxon, Cardiosporidium, revealing an ancestral purine degradation pathway thought to have been lost early in apicomplexan evolution. The predicted localization of many of the purine degradation enzymes to peroxisomes, and the in silico identification of a full set of peroxisome proteins, indicates that loss of both features in other apicomplexans occurred…
Sucrose accumulation and decreased photosynthesis are early symptoms of yellow canopy syndrome (YCS) in sugarcane (Saccharum spp.), and precede the visual yellowing of the leaves. To investigate broad-scale gene expression changes during YCS-onset, transcriptome analyses coupled to metabolome analyses were performed. Across leaf tissues, the greatest number of differentially expressed genes related to the chloroplast, and the metabolic processes relating to nitrogen and carbohydrates. Five genes represented 90% of the TPM (Transcripts Per Million) associated with the downregulation of transcription during YCS-onset, which included PSII D1 (PsbA). This differential expression was consistent with a feedback regulatory effect upon photosynthesis. Broad-scale…
The Geobacter species evolved respiratory versatility to utilize a wide range of terminal electron acceptors. To explore this adaptive mechanism, Fe(III) citrate, hydrous ferric oxide, and fumarate were selected as electron acceptors, and the methylome and metabolome of Geobacter sulfurreducens PCA grown on each electron acceptor were investigated via third-generation, single-molecule real-time DNA sequencing and gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry-based metabolomics, respectively. Results showed that the patterns of 4-methylcytosine (m4C) and 6-methyladenine (m6A) modification, the concentrations of fatty acids (e.g., caprylic acid, capric acid, and squalene), and the activity of antioxidant enzymes (e.g., superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione reductase) were all…
Olive (Olea europaea) is a rich source of valuable bioactive polyphenols, which has attracted widespread interest. In this study, we combined targeted metabolome, Pacbio ISOseq transcriptome, and Illumina RNA-seq transcriptome to investigate the association between polyphenols and gene expression in the developing olive fruits and leaves. A total of 12 main polyphenols were measured, and 122 transcripts of 17 gene families, 101 transcripts of 9 gene families, and 106 transcripts of 6 gene families that encode for enzymes involved in flavonoid, oleuropein, and hydroxytyrosol biosynthesis were separately identified. Additionally, 232 alternative splicing events of 18 genes related to polyphenol synthesis…
An extract prepared from species of Paris is the most widely consumed herbal product in China. The genus Paris includes a variety of genotypes with different medicinal component contents but only two are defined as official sources. Closely related species have different medicinal properties because of differential expression of proteins and metabolites. To better understand the molecular basis of these differences, we examined proteomic and metabolomic changes in rhizomes of P. polyphylla var. chinensis, P. polyphylla var. yunnanensis, and P. fargesii var. fargesii using a technique known as sequential window acquisition of all theoretical mass spectra as well as gas…
The present study investigated the species level based microbial community and metabolome in corn silage inoculated with or without homofermentative Lactobacillus plantarum and heterofermentative Lactobacillus buchneri using the PacBio SMRT Sequencing and time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF/MS). Chopped whole crop corn was treated with (1) deionized water (control), (2) Lactobacillus plantarum, or (3) Lactobacillus buchneri. The chopped whole crop corn was ensiled in vacuum-sealed polyethylene bags containing 300 g of fresh forge for 90 days, with three replicates for each treatment. The results showed that a total of 979 substances were detected, and 316 different metabolites were identified. Some metabolites with…
Until recently, the commercial production of Cannabis sativa was restricted to varieties that yielded high-quality fiber while producing low levels of the psychoactive cannabinoid tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). In the last few years, a number of jurisdictions have legalized the production of medical and/or recreational cannabis with higher levels of THC, and other jurisdictions seem poised to follow suit. Consequently, demand for industrial-scale production of high yield cannabis with consistent cannabinoid profiles is expected to increase. In this paper we highlight that currently, projected annual production of cannabis is based largely on facility size, not yield per square meter. This meta-analysis of…
Phomafungin is a recently reported broad spectrum antifungal compound but its biosynthetic pathway is unknown. We combed publicly available Phoma genomes but failed to find any putative biosynthetic gene cluster that could account for its biosynthesis.Therefore, we sequenced the genome of one of our Phoma strains (F3723) previously identified as having antifungal activity in a high-throughput screen. We found a biosynthetic gene cluster that was predicted to synthesize a cyclic lipodepsipeptide that differs in the amino acid composition compared to Phomafungin. Antifungal activity guided isolation yielded a new compound, BII-Rafflesfungin, the structure of which was determined.We describe the NRPS-t1PKS cluster…
Genomic information for outlier strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa is exiguous when compared with classical strains. We sequenced and constructed the complete genome of an environmental strain CR1 of P. aeruginosa and performed the comparative genomic analysis. It clustered with the outlier group, hence we scaled up the analyses to understand the differences in environmental and clinical outlier strains. We identified eight new regions of genomic plasticity and a plasmid pCR1 with a VirB/D4 complex followed by trimeric auto-transporter that can induce virulence phenotype in the genome of strain CR1. Virulence genotype analysis revealed that strain CR1 lacked hemolytic phospholipase C…