At-thi1 homologs in sugarcane: a molecular and functional study

• Grant number: 12/02671-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: March 01, 2012
• End date: January 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Plant Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Marie-Anne Van Sluys
• Grantee: Andréia Prata Vieira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 08/52074-0 - Sugarcane genome sequence: plant transposable elements are active contributors to gene structure variation, regulation and function, AP.BIOEN.TEM

Abstract

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is a monocot with C4 metabolism and high sucrose accumulation in the stem. It is an important tropical crop, grown for sugar production and, more recently, for biofuel ethanol production, among other products. Despite its economic importance, little is known about the structure of its genome. It is known that modern cultivars are interspecific hybrids with a highly complex genome. The program SUCEST (Sugarcane EST Project - Vettore et al., 2003) produced transcriptome sequences of this plant in order to start the study of coding regions. From the database SUCEST, two SAS (Sugarcane Assembled Sequences), called SAS1_sc-thi1 and SAS2_sc-thi1, were identified as putative homologous to the thi1 gene of Arabdopsis thaliana and the thi4 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These genes are involved in the biosynthesis of the thiazole ring, a component of thiamine (vitamin B1), which is needed for cell function because it is a co-factor for enzymes that act in several different metabolic pathways. While in A. thaliana and other plant species there is only one copy of this gene, sugarcane has at least two copies, like other C4 grasses. Previous results from our group showed that an A. thaliana tz-201 mutant accumulated sucrose in tissues. This, combined with the presence of two transcripts with distinct expression profiles in SUCEST, makes it interesting to study the function of the sugarcane homologues. Thus, this project aims to study the possible function of these two genes through analysis of expression, complementation studies in a yeast THI4 mutant and the characterization of the genomic context of genes in sugarcane. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

OCHOA CRUZ, EDGAR ANDRES; QUEIROGA CRUZ, GUILHERME MARCELLO; VIEIRA, ANDREIA PRATA; VAN SLUYS, MARIE-ANNE. Virus-like attachment sites as structural landmarks of plants retrotransposons. MOBILE DNA, v. 7, JUL 28 2016. (12/21064-4, 12/02671-7, 08/52074-0)

CRUZ, GUILHERME M. Q.; METCALFE, CUSHLA J.; DE SETTA, NATHALIA; CRUZ, EDGAR A. O.; VIEIRA, ANDREIA PRATA; MEDINA, ROSARIO; VAN SLUYS, MARIE-ANNE. Virus-Like Attachment Sites and Plastic CpG Islands: Landmarks of Diversity in Plant Del Retrotransposons. PLoS One, v. 9, n. 5, MAY 21 2014. (08/52074-0, 12/02671-7)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

VIEIRA, Andréia Prata. Sugarcane thi1 homologues: a molecular and functional study. 2018. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) Piracicaba.