Browsing by Author "Lee, Seonghee"

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Comprehensive analysis of small RNA-seq data reveals that combination of miRNA with its isomiRs increase the accuracy of target prediction in Arabidopsis thaliana
(Taylor & Francis Group, 2014) Ahmed, Firoz; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Lee, Seonghee; Dai, Xinbin; Mysore, Kirankumar S; Zhao, Patrick Xuechun
Along with the canonical miRNA, distinct miRNA-like sequences called sibling miRNAs (sib-miRs) are generated from the same pre-miRNA. Among them, isomeric sequences featuring slight variations at the terminals, relative to the canonical miRNA, constitute a pool of isomeric sibling miRNAs (isomiRs). Despite the high prevalence of isomiRs in eukaryotes, their features and relevance remain elusive. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of mature precursor miRNA (pre-miRNA) sequences from Arabidopsis to understand their features and regulatory targets. The influence of isomiR terminal heterogeneity in target binding was examined comprehensively. Our comprehensive analyses suggested a novel computational strategy that utilizes miRNA and its isomiRs to enhance the accuracy of their regulatory target prediction in Arabidopsis. A few targets are shared by several members of isomiRs; however, this phenomenon was not typical. Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis showed that commonly targeted mRNAs were enriched for certain GO terms. Moreover, comparison of these commonly targeted genes with validated targets from published data demonstrated that the validated targets are bound by most isomiRs and not only the canonical miRNA. Furthermore, the biological role of isomiRs in target cleavage was supported by degradome data. Incorporating this finding, we predicted potential target genes of several miRNAs and confirmed them by experimental assays. This study proposes a novel strategy to improve the accuracy of predicting miRNA targets through combined use of miRNA with its isomiRs.
General Control Non-repressible-4 (GCN4) degrades 14-3-3 and the RIN4 complex to regulate stomatal aperture with implications on nonhost disease resistance and drought tolerance
(American Society of Plant Biologists, 2017) Kaundal, Amita; Ramu, Vemanna S; Oh, Sunhee; Lee, Seonghee; Pant, Bikram; Lee, Hee-Kyung; Rojas, Clemencia M.; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Mysore, Kirankumar S.
Plants have complex and adaptive innate immune responses against pathogen infections. Stomata are key entry points for many plant pathogens. Both pathogens and plants regulate stomatal aperture for pathogen entry and defense, respectively. Not all plant proteins involved in stomatal aperture regulation have been identified. Here we report general control non-repressible-4 (GCN4), an AAA+-ATPase family protein, as one of the key proteins regulating stomatal aperture during biotic and abiotic stress. Silencing of GCN4 in Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis compromises host and nonhost disease resistance due to open stomata during pathogen infection. AtGCN4 overexpression plants have reduced H+-ATPase activity, less responsive stomata to coronatine or fusicoccin, have reduced pathogen entry, and confers drought tolerance. This study also demonstrates that AtGCN4 interacts with RIN4 and 14-3-3 proteins and suggest that GCN4 may degrade RIN4 and 14-3-3 proteins via a proteasome mediated pathway to reduce the activity of plasma membrane H+-ATPase complex thus reducing proton pump activity to close stomata.
A novel role of salt and drought induced RING 1 protein in modulating plant defense against hemibiotrophic and necrotrophic pathogens
(American Phytopathological Society, 2021) Ramu, Vemanna S.; Oh, Sunhee; Lee, Hee-Kyung; Nandety, Raja Sekhar; Oh, Youngjae; Lee, Seonghee; Nakashima, Jin; Tang, Yuhong; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Mysore, Kirankumar S.
Many plant encoded E3 ligases are known to be involved in plant defense. Here we report a novel role of E3 ligase SALT- AND DROUGHT-INDUCED RING FINGER1 (SDIR1) in plant immunity. Even though SDIR1 is reasonably well-characterized, its role in biotic stress response is not known. The silencing of SDIR1 in Nicotiana benthamiana reduced the multiplication of the virulent bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci. The Arabidopsis sdir1 mutant is resistant to virulent pathogens, whereas SDIR1 overexpression lines are susceptible to both host and nonhost hemibiotrophic bacterial pathogens. However, sdir1 mutant and SDIR1 overexpression lines showed hypersusceptibility and resistance, respectively, against the necrotrophic pathogen, Erwinia carotovora. The mutant of SDIR1 target protein, SDIR-interacting protein 1 (SDIR1P1), also showed resistance to host and nonhost pathogens. In SDIR1 overexpression plants, transcripts of NAC transcription factors were less accumulated and the levels of JA and abscisic acid (ABA) were increased. In sdir1 mutants, JA signaling genes JAZ7 and JAZ8 were downregulated. These data suggest that SDIR1 is a susceptibility factor, and its activation/overexpression enhances disease caused by P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000 in Arabidopsis. Our results show a novel role of SDIR1 in modulating plant defense gene expression and plant immunity.
pssRNAit-a web server for designing effective and specific plant siRNAs with genome-wide off-target assessment
(American Society of Plant Biologists, 2020) Ahmed, Firoz; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Dai, Xinbin; Ramu, Vemanna S.; Lee, Seonghee; Mysore, Kirankumar S; Zhao, Patrick Xuechun
We report an advanced web server named pssRNAit (plant specific small non-coding RNAi tool) that can be used to design a pool of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) for highly effective, specific, and non-toxic gene silencing in plants. In developing this tool, we integrated the transcript dataset of plants, several rules governing gene silencing, and a series of computational models of the biological mechanism of the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway. The designed pool of siRNAs can be used to construct a long double-stranded RNA (long-dsRNA) and expressed through virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) or synthetic trans-acting siRNA (syn-tasiRNA) vectors for gene silencing. We demonstrated the performance of pssRNAit by designing and expressing the VIGS constructs to silence Phytoene desaturase (PDS) or a ribosomal protein-encoding gene, RPL10 (QM), in Nicotiana benthamiana. We analyzed the expression levels of predicted intended target and off-target genes using RT-qPCR. We further conducted an RNA-seq-based transcriptome analysis to assess genome-wide off-target gene silencing triggered by the fragments that were designed by pssRNAit, targeting different homologous regions of the PDS gene. Our analyses confirmed the high accuracy of siRNA constructs designed using pssRNAit. The pssRNAit server, freely available at https://plantgrn.noble.org/pssRNAit/, supports the design of highly effective and specific RNAi, VIGS, or syn-tasiRNA constructs for high-throughput functional genomics and trait improvement in more than 160 plant species.
Ribosomal protein QM/RPL10 positively regulates defence and protein translation mechanisms during nonhost disease resistance
(John Wiley & Sons, 2020) Ramu, Vemanna S.; Dawane, Akashata; Lee, Seonghee; Oh, Sunhee; Lee, Hee-Kyung; Sun, Liang; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Mysore, Kirankumar S.
Ribosomes play an integral part in plant growth, development, and defence responses. We report here the role of ribosomal protein large (RPL) subunit QM/RPL10 in nonhost disease resistance. The RPL10-silenced Nicotiana benthamiana plants showed compromised disease resistance against nonhost pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato T1. The RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that many genes involved in defence and protein translation mechanisms were differentially affected due to silencing of NbRPL10. Arabidopsis AtRPL10 RNAi and rpl10 mutant lines showed compromised nonhost disease resistance to P. syringae pv. tomato T1 and P. syringae pv. tabaci. Overexpression of AtRPL10A in Arabidopsis resulted in reduced susceptibility against host pathogen P. syringae pv. tomato DC3000. RPL10 interacts with the RNA recognition motif protein and ribosomal proteins RPL30, RPL23, and RPS30 in the yeast two-hybrid assay. Silencing or mutants of genes encoding these RPL10- interacting proteins in N. benthamiana or Arabidopsis, respectively, also showed compromised disease resistance to nonhost pathogens. These results suggest that QM/ RPL10 positively regulates the defence and translation-associated genes during nonhost pathogen infection.
The small GTPase, nucleolar GTP-binding protein 1 (NOG1), has a novel role in plant innate immunity
(Nature Publishing Group, 2017) Lee, Seonghee; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Kang, Miyoung; Rojas, Clemencia M.; Tang, Yuhong; Oh, Sunhee; Choudhury, Swarup Roy; Lee, Hee-Kyung; Ishiga, Yasuhiro; Allen, Randy D.; Pandey, Sona; Mysore, Kirankumar S.
Plant defense responses at stomata and apoplast are the most important early events during plant-bacteria interactions. The key components for the signaling of stomatal defense and nonhost resistance have not been fully characterized. Here we report the newly identified small GTPase, Nucleolar GTP-binding protein 1 (NOG1), functions for plant immunity against bacterial pathogens. Virus-induced gene silencing of NOG1 compromised nonhost resistance in N. benthamiana and tomato. Comparative genomic analysis showed that two NOG1 copies are present in all known plant species: NOG1-1 and NOG1-2. Gene downregulation and overexpression studies of NOG1-1 and NOG1-2 in Arabidopsis revealed the novel function of these genes in nonhost resistance and stomatal defense against bacterial pathogens, respectively. Specially, NOG1-2 regulates guard cell signaling in response to biotic and abiotic stimuli through jasmonic acid (JA)- and abscisic acid (ABA)-mediated pathways. The results here provide valuable information on the new functional role of small GTPase, NOG1, in guard cell signaling and early plant defense in response to bacterial pathogens.
Two chloroplast-localized proteins: AtNHR2A and AtNHR2B, contribute to callose deposition during nonhost disease resistance in Arabidopsis
(American Phytopathological Society, 2018) Singh, Raksha; Lee, Seonghee; Ortega, Laura; Ramu, Vemanna S.; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa; Blancaflor, Elison B.; Rojas, Clemencia M.; Mysore, Kirankumar S.
Plants are naturally resistant to most pathogens through a broad and durable defense response called nonhost disease resistance. Nonhost disease resistance is a complex process that includes preformed physical and chemical barriers and induced responses. In spite of its importance, many components of nonhost disease resistance remain to be identified and characterized. Using virus-induced gene silencing in Nicotiana benthamiana, we discovered a novel gene that we named NbNHR2 (N. benthamiana nonhost resistance 2). NbNHR2-silenced plants were susceptible to the non-adapted pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato T1 that does not cause disease in wild-type or non-silenced N. benthamiana plants. We found two orthologous genes in Arabidopsis thaliana: AtNHR2A and AtNHR2B. Similar to the results obtained in N. benthamiana, Atnhr2a and Atnhr2b mutants were susceptible to the non-adapted bacterial pathogen of A. thaliana, P. syringae pv. tabaci. We further found that these mutants were also defective in callose deposition. AtNHR2A and AtNHR2B fluorescent protein fusions transiently expressed in N. benthamiana localized predominantly to chloroplasts and a few unidentified dynamic puncta. RFP-AtNHR2A and AtNHR2B-GFP displayed overlapping signals in chloroplasts indicating that the two proteins could interact; a notion supported by co-immunoprecipitation studies. We propose that AtNHR2A and AtNHR2B are new components of a chloroplast-signaling pathway that activates callose deposition to the cell wall in response to bacterial pathogens.