Publications of NIPGR Scientists
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Item A comprehensive Vis-NIRS equation for rapid quantification of seed glucosinolate content and composition across diverse Brassica oilseed chemotypes(Elsevier B.V., 2021) Gohain, Bornali; Kumar, Pawan; Malhotra, Bhanu; Augustine, Rehna; Pradhan, Akshay K.; Bisht, Naveen C.The globally cultivated Brassica crops contain high deliverable concentrations of health-promoting glucosinolates. Development of a Visible-Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (Vis-NIRS) calibration to profile different glucosinolate components from 641 diverse Brassica juncea chemotypes was attempted in this study. Principal component analysis of HPLC-determined glucosinolates established the distinctiveness of four B. juncea populations used. Subsequently, modified partial least square regression based population-specific and combined Vis-NIRS models were developed, wherein the combined model exhibited higher coefficient of determination (R2; 0.81–0.97) for eight glucosinolates and higher ratio of prediction determination (RPD; 2.42–5.35) for seven glucosinolates in B. juncea populations. Furthermore, range error ratio (RER > 4) for twelve and RER > 10 for eight glucosinolates make the combined model acceptable for screening and quality control. The model also provided excellent prediction for aliphatic glucosinolates in four oilseed Brassica species. Overall, our work highlights the potential of Vis-NIR spectroscopy in estimating glucosinolate content in the economically important Brassica oilseeds.Item Heterotic patterns of primary and secondary metabolites in the oilseed crop Brassica juncea(Springer Nature, 2019) Bajpai, Prabodh K.; Reichelt, Michael; Augustine, Rehna; Gershenzon, Jonathan; Bisht, Naveen C.Heterosis refers to the superior performance of F1 hybrids over their respective parental inbred lines. Although the genetic and expression basis of heterosis have been previously investigated, the metabolic basis for this phenomenon is poorly understood. In a preliminary morphological study in Brassica juncea, we observed significant heterosis at the 50% flowering stage, wherein both the growth and reproduction of F1 reciprocal hybrids were greater than that of their parents. To identify the possible metabolic causes or consequences of this heterosis, we carried out targeted LC-MS analysis of 48 primary (amino acids and sugars) and secondary metabolites (phytohormones, glucosinolates, flavonoids, and phenolic esters) in five developmental tissues at 50% flowering in hybrids and inbred parents. Principal component analysis (PCA) of metabolites clearly separated inbred lines from their hybrids, particularly in the bud tissues. In general, secondary metabolites displayed more negative heterosis values in comparison to primary metabolites. The tested primary and secondary metabolites displayed both additive and non-additive modes of inheritance in F1 hybrids, wherein the number of metabolites showing an additive mode of inheritance were higher in buds and siliques (52.77–97.14%) compared to leaf tissues (47.37–80%). Partial least regression (PLS) analysis further showed that primary metabolites, in general, displayed higher association with morphological parameters in F1 hybrids. Overall, our results are consistent with a resource-cost model for heterosis in B. juncea, where metabolite allocation in hybrids appears to favor growth, at the expense of secondary metabolism.Item Feeding behaviour of generalist pests on Brassica juncea: implication for manipulation of glucosinolate biosynthesis pathway for enhanced resistance(John Wiley & Sons, 2017) Kumar, Pawan; Augustine, Rehna; Singh, Amarjeet Kumar; Bisht, Naveen C.Differential accumulation of plant defense metabolites has been suggested to have important ecological consequence in the context of plant-insect interactions. Feeding of generalist pests on Brassica juncea showed a distinct pattern with selective exclusion of leaf margins which are high in glucosinolates. Molecular basis of this differential accumulation of glucosinolates could be explained based on differential expression profile of BjuMYB28 homologs, the major biosynthetic regulators of aliphatic glucosinolates, as evident from quantitative real-time PCR and promoter:GUS fusion studies in allotetraploid B. juncea. Constitutive over-expression of selected BjuMYB28 homologs enhanced accumulation of aliphatic glucosinolates in B. juncea. Performance of two generalist pests, Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura larvae on transgenic B. juncea plants were poor compared to wild-type plants in a no-choice experiment. Correlation coefficient analysis suggested that weight gain of H. armigera larvae was negatively correlated with gluconapin (GNA) and glucobrassicanapin (GBN) whereas that of S. litura larvae was negatively correlated with GNA, GBN and sinigrin (SIN). Our study explains the significance and possible molecular basis of differential distribution of glucosinolates in B. juncea leaves and shows the potential of over-expressing BjuMYB28 for enhanced resistance of Brassica crops against the tested generalist pests.Item Arsenic affects the production of glucosinolate, thiol and phytochemical compounds: A comparison of two Brassica cultivars(Elsevier B.V., 2017) Pandey, Chandana; Augustine, Rehna; Panthri, Medha; Zia, Ismat; Bisht, Naveen C.; Gupta, MeetuArsenic (As), a non-essential metalloid, severely affects the normal functioning of plants, animals and humans. Plants play a crucial role in metabolic, physiological and numerous detoxification mechanisms to cope up with As induced stress. This study aimed to examine the differential response in two Brassica juncea cultivars, Varuna and Pusa Jagannath (PJn) exposed to different doses of As (50, 150, 300 μM) for 48 h duration. Change in morphological traits, concentration of individual as well as total GSL, sulfur related thiol proteins, sulfur content, and phytochemicals were analyzed in both cultivars. Accumulation pattern of As showed dose dependent accumulation in both the cultivars, being more in PJn. Our finding revealed that both cultivars were tolerant at low concentrations of As, while at higher concentration Varuna excelled over PJn. The increased tolerance of Varuna cultivar exposed to 150 and 300 μM concentration of As, correlated with its increased thiol related proteins, sulfur content and phytochemicals, which serves as defence strategy in the plant against oxidative stress. Differential pattern of total as well as individual GSLs content was observed in both Varuna and PJn cultivars. Varuna cultivar showed higher level of total and aliphatic GSLs, which serves as defence compound with other detoxification machineries to combat As stress. Our findings provide foundation for developing metalloid tolerant crops by analyzing the role of different genes involved in GSL mechanism and signaling pathways in different organs of plant.Item Effective restoration of male-sterile (barnase) lines requires overlapping and higher levels of barstar expression: A multi-generation field analysis in Brassica juncea(Springer, 2015) Bisht, Naveen C.; Jagannath, Arun; Augustine, Rehna; Burma, Pradeep K.; Gupta, Vibha; Pradhan, Akshay K.; Pental, DeepakWe have earlier reported the deployment of an effective pollination control system for hybrid seed production in Brassica juncea based on use of the barnase-barstar system. The current study analyses the stability and performance of four male-sterile (barnase) and 34 fertility restorer (barstar) lines under containment field conditions. Line (barnase) x tester (barstar) crosses were studied for effective fertility restoration over three successive growing seasons by screening the F1 and representative F2 progeny for three major parameters, namely segregation of Basta resistance and sensitive plants, distribution of male-sterile and fertile plants (vis-à-vis segregation of the barnase and the barstar genes) and pollen viability of the restored events. A total of 29 male sterile/restorer combinations out of 53 obtained in the first growing season were stable for their restoration ability when tested for two subsequent growing seasons. Stable restorers with high pollen viability were obtained at a significantly higher frequency for one of the barnase lines, bn 3.6, out of the four lines tested. Among the barstar lines, constructs carrying two transcription units of the barstar gene provided more effective fertility restoration. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis of restored progeny obtained for all the four barnase lines showed that three barnase lines (bn 3.23, bn 3.4 and bn 3.48) had an early and much higher level of barnase expression than the line bn 3.6 indicating that the level of barnase expression in the line bn 3.6 is optimal for better and stable restoration. It was observed that a high barstar : barnase transcript ratio and an extended window of barstar gene expression are critical parameters for the development of stable male-sterile (barnase) and fertility-restorer (barstar) combinations.Item Biotic elicitors and mechanical damage modulate glucosinolate accumulation by co-ordinated interplay of glucosinolate biosynthesis regulators in polyploid Brassica juncea(Elsevier B.V., 2015) Augustine, Rehna; Bisht, Naveen C.Glucosinolates are nitrogen and sulfur containing secondary metabolites found mainly in the Brassicaceae. They function as plant defense compounds against a broad spectrum of pathogens and pests. Since these molecules form part of the plant defense mechanism, glucosinolate biosynthesis may be modulated by environmental signals leading to activation of a biological stress response. In the current study, we have mimicked such conditions by exogenously applying biotic elicitors such as methyl jasmonate, salicylic acid, glucose and mechanical injury in Brassica juncea seedling over a time course experiment. We found that total glucosinolates over-accumulated under these stress conditions with maximum accumulation observed 24h post treatment. Indole glucosinolates like 1-methoxy-indol-3-ylmethyl and its precursor indol-3-methyl glucosinolates showed a more significant induction compared to aliphatic glucosinolates thereby suggesting a prominent role of indole glucosinolates during plant defense response in B. juncea seedlings. In contrast, the higher amounts of aliphatic glucosinolates were less regulated by the tested biotic elicitors in B. juncea. Expression profiling of multiple homologs of key transcriptional regulators of glucosinolate biosynthesis further showed that a complex interplay of these regulators exists in polyploid B. juncea where they exert co-ordinated and overlapping effects toward altering glucosinolate accumulation. This study has a significant role toward understanding and augmenting plant defense mechanisms in B. juncea, a globally important oilseed crop of genus Brassica.Item Targeted silencing of BjMYB28 transcription factor gene directs development of low glucosinolate lines in oilseed Brassica juncea(John Wiley & Sons, 2013) Augustine, Rehna; Mukhopadhyay, Arundhati; Bisht, Naveen C.Brassica juncea (Indian mustard), a globally important oilseed crop, contains relatively high amount of seed glucosinolates ranging from 80 to 120 lmol/g dry weight (DW). One of the major breeding objectives in oilseed Brassicas is to improve the seed-meal quality through the development of low-seed-glucosinolate lines (<30 lmol/g DW), as high amounts of certain seed glucosinolates are known to be anti-nutritional and reduce the meal palatability. Here, we report the development of transgenic B. juncea lines having seed glucosinolates as low as 11.26 lmol/g DW, through RNAi-based targeted suppression of BjMYB28, a R2R3-MYB transcription factor family gene involved in aliphatic glucosinolate biosynthesis. Targeted silencing of BjMYB28 homologs provided significant reduction in the anti-nutritional aliphatic glucosinolates fractions, without altering the desirable nonaliphatic glucosinolate pool, both in leaves and seeds of transgenic plants. Molecular characterization of single-copy, low glucosinolate homozygous lines confirmed significant down-regulation of BjMYB28 homologs vis-a-vis enhanced accumulation of BjMYB28-specific siRNA pool. Consequently, these low glucosinolate lines also showed significant suppression of genes involved in aliphatic glucosinolate biosynthesis. The low glucosinolate trait was stable in subsequent generations of the transgenic lines with no visible off-target effects on plant growth and development. Various seed quality parameters including fatty acid composition, oil content, protein content and seed weight of the low glucosinolate lines also remained unaltered, when tested under containment conditions in the field. Our results indicate that targeted silencing of a key glucosinolate transcriptional regulator MYB28 has huge potential for reducing the glucosinolates content and improving the seed-meal quality of oilseed Brassica crops.Item Four genes encoding MYB28, a major transcriptional regulator of aliphatic glucosinolate pathway, are differentially expressed in the allopolyploid Brassica juncea(Oxford University Press, 2013) Augustine, Rehna; Majee, Manoj; Gershenzon, Jonathan; Bisht, Naveen C.Glucosinolates are Capparales-specific secondary metabolites that have immense potential in human health and agriculture. Unlike Arabidopsis thaliana, our knowledge about glucosinolate regulators in the Brassica crops is sparse. In the current study, four MYB28 homologues were identified (BjuMYB28-1,-2,-3,-4) from the polyploid Brassica juncea, and the effects of allopolyploidization on the divergence of gene sequence, structure, function, and expression were assessed. The deduced protein sequences of the four BjuMYB28 genes showed 76.1-83.1% identity with the Arabidopsis MYB28. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the four BjuMYB28 proteins have evolved via the hybridization and duplication processes forming the B. juncea genome (AABB) from B. rapa (AA) and B. nigra (BB), while retaining high levels of sequence conservation. Mutant complementation and over-expression studies in A. thaliana showed that all four BjuMYB28 genes encode functional MYB28 proteins and resulted in similar aliphatic glucosinolate composition and content. Detailed expression analysis using qRT-PCR assays and promoter-GUS lines revealed that the BjuMYB28 genes have both tissue- and cell-specific expression partitioning in B. juncea. The two B-genome origin BjuMYB28 genes had more abundant transcripts during the early stages of plant development than the A-genome origin genes. However, with the onset of the reproductive phase, expression levels of all four BjuMYB28 increased significantly, which may be necessary for producing and maintaining high amounts of aliphatic glucosinolates during the later stages of plant development. Taken together, our results suggest that the four MYB28 genes are differentially expressed and regulated in B. juncea to play discrete though overlapping roles in controlling aliphatic glucosinolate biosynthesis.Item Evaluation of candidate reference genes for gene expression normalization in Brassica juncea using real time quantitative RT-PCR(Public Library of Science, 2012) Chandna, Ruby; Augustine, Rehna; Bisht, Naveen C.The real time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) is becoming increasingly important to gain insight into function of genes. Given the increased sensitivity, ease and reproducibility of qRT-PCR, the requirement of suitable reference genes for normalization has become important and stringent. It is now known that the expression of internal control genes in living organism vary considerably during developmental stages and under different experimental conditions. For economically important Brassica crops, only a couple of reference genes are reported till date. In this study, expression stability of 12 candidate reference genes including ACT2, ELFA, GAPDH, TUA, UBQ9 (traditional housekeeping genes), ACP, CAC, SNF, TIPS-41, TMD, TSB and ZNF (new candidate reference genes), in a diverse set of 49 tissue samples representing different developmental stages, stress and hormone treated conditions and cultivars of Brassica juncea has been validated. For the normalization of vegetative stages the ELFA, ACT2, CAC and TIPS-41 combination would be appropriate whereas TIPS-41 along with CAC would be suitable for normalization of reproductive stages. A combination of GAPDH, TUA, TIPS-41 and CAC were identified as the most suitable reference genes for total developmental stages. In various stress and hormone treated samples, UBQ9 and TIPS-41 had the most stable expression. Across five cultivars of B. juncea, the expression of CAC and TIPS-41 did not vary significantly and were identified as the most stably expressed reference genes. This study provides comprehensive information that the new reference genes selected herein performed better than the traditional housekeeping genes. The selection of most suitable reference genes depends on the experimental conditions, and is tissue and cultivar-specific. Further, to attain accuracy in the results more than one reference genes are necessary for normalization.