Biology subjects

Tohge, T.

Publications and source records attributed to Tohge, T..

8 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Curcumin Enhances Alcoholic Fermentation in Yeast by Promoting Osmotic Stress Adaptation

Spices contain diverse plant secondary metabolites with antimicrobial and antioxidant activities that can influence plant-microbe interactions. Among these metabolites, curcumin and piperine are major bioactive constituents of turmeric and black pepper, respectively. In this study, we demonstrate that curcumin and piperine enhance alcoholic fermentation in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Curcumin significantly promoted alcoholic fermentation under high-glucose conditions (20-40% glucose), which impose substantial osmotic stress on yeast cells. Under these conditions, curcumin enhanced yeast growth, improved osmotic stress tolerance, and increased resistance to cell wall digestion, suggesting enhanced stress adaptation during fermentation. Furthermore, deletion of HOG1, which encodes the central MAP kinase of the High-Osmolarity Glycerol (HOG) pathway responsible for the osmotic stress response, abolished the fermentation-enhancing effect of curcumin, indicating that Hog1 function is required for this effect. Consistent with this result, transcriptomic and RT-qPCR analyses revealed increased expression of stress adaptation-related genes, including known HOG pathway-responsive genes. In contrast, the expression of genes involved in amino acid catabolism was decreased at 12 h after the initiation of fermentation, while metabolomic analysis revealed increased intracellular levels of amino acids, including glutamate and asparagine, at 24 h. These coordinated transcriptional and metabolic changes are consistent with reduced amino acid catabolism and a shift toward a metabolic state favorable for sustained fermentation. Together, these findings suggest that curcumin enhances alcoholic fermentation under osmotic stress by promoting stress adaptation that supports yeast growth and sustained fermentation.

microbiology↗

bioRxiv2025

Glucosylation of Endogenous Haustorium-inducing factors Underpins Kin Avoidance in Parasitic Plants

Parasitic plants rarely attack themselves, suggesting the activity of a kin-avoidance mechanism. In the root parasitic plant Phtheirospermum japonicum, prehaustorium formation is triggered by host-secreted haustorium-inducing factors (HIFs), but it is unresponsive to its own root exudates. Here we report the identification of the spontaneous prehaustorium 1 (spoh1) mutant, which forms prehaustoria without external HIFs. spoh1 harbors a point mutation in the gene encoding UDP-glycosyltransferase GT72B1, an enzyme that glucosylates and thereby inactivates phenolic HIFs. Notably, PjGT72B1 possesses a different substrate specificity from its ortholog of the host Arabidopsis. Introduction of PjGT72B1 in Arabidopsis reduced HIF activity, indicating that HIF glucosylation regulates haustorium induction by hosts. Our findings suggest that parasitic plants have evolved kin-avoidance mechanisms through the glucosylation of endogenous HIFs.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

Genome-wide association studies of seed metabolites identify loci controlling specialized metabolites in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plants synthesize specialized metabolites to facilitate environmental and ecological interactions. During evolution, plants diversified in their potential to synthesize these metabolites. Quantitative differences in metabolite levels of natural Arabidopsis thaliana accessions can be employed to unravel the genetic basis for metabolic traits using genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Here, we performed metabolic GWAS (mGWAS) on seeds of a panel of 315 A. thaliana natural accessions, including the reference genotypes C24 and Col-0, for polar and semi-polar seed metabolites using untargeted ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. As a complementary approach, we performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of near-isogenic introgression lines between C24 and Col-0 for specific seed specialized metabolites. Besides common QTL between seeds and leaves, GWAS revealed seed-specific QTL for specialized metabolites indicating differences in the genetic architecture of seeds and leaves. In seeds, aliphatic methylsulfinylalkyl and methylthioalkyl glucosinolates associated with the GS-ALK and GS-OHP locus on chromosome 4 containing alkenyl hydroxyalkyl producing 2 (AOP2) and 3 (AOP3) and/or with the GS-ELONG locus on chromosome 5 containing methylthioalkyl malate synthase (MAM1) and MAM3. We detected two unknown sulfur-containing compounds that were also mapped to these loci. In GWAS, some of the annotated flavonoids (kaempferol 3-O-rhamnoside-7-O-rhamnoside, quercetin 3-O-rhamnoside-7-O-rhamnoside) were mapped to transparent testa 7 (AT5G07990), encoding a cytochrome P450 75B1 monooxygenase. Three additional mass signals corresponding to quercetin-containing flavonols were mapped to UGT78D2 (AT5G17050). The association of the loci and associating metabolic features were functionally verified in knockdown mutant lines. By performing GWAS and QTL mapping, we were able to leverage variation of natural populations and parental lines to study seed specialized metabolism. The GWAS data set generated here is a high-quality resource that can be interrogated in further studies.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2020

Coordinating the morphogenesis-differentiation balance by tweaking the cytokinin-gibberellin equilibrium

Morphogenesis and differentiation are important stages in organ development and shape determination. However, how they are balanced and tuned during development is not fully understood. In the compound leaved tomato, an extended morphogenesis phase allows for the initiation of leaflets, resulting in the compound form. Maintaining a prolonged morphogenetic phase in early stages of compound-leaf development is dependent on delayed activity of several factors that promote differentiation, including CIN-TCP transcription factor (TF) LA, the MYB TF CLAU and the plant hormone Gibberellin (GA). Here, we investigated the genetic regulation of the morphogenesis-differentiation balance by studying the relationship between LA, CLAU and GA. Our genetic and molecular examination suggest that LA is expressed more broadly than CLAU and determines the spatio-temporal context of CLAU activity. We demonstrate that both LA and CLAU affect the Cytokinin/Gibberellin (CK/GA) balance. LA reduces the sensitivity of the leaf margin to CK, shown before to be also affected by CLAU. CLAU affects leaf active GA content and sensitivity, shown previously to be also influenced by LA. Therefore, LA and CLAU likely function in parallel pathways to promote leaf differentiation by converging on common downstream processes, including the CK/GA balance.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2019

Expression atlas of Selaginella moellendorffii provides insights into the evolution of vasculature, secondary metabolism and roots

O_LIThe lycophyte Selaginella moellendorffii represents early vascular plants and is studied to understand the evolution of higher plant traits such as the vasculature, leaves, stems, roots, and secondary metabolism. However, little is known about the gene expression and transcriptional coordination of Selaginella genes, which precludes us from understanding the evolution of transcriptional programs behind these traits.\nC_LIO_LIWe here present a gene expression atlas comprising all major organs, tissue types, and the diurnal gene expression profiles for S. moellendorffii. The atlas is part of the CoNekT-Plants database (conekt.plant.tools), which enables comparative transcriptomic analyses across two algae and seven land plants.\nC_LIO_LIWe show that the transcriptional gene module responsible for the biosynthesis of lignocellulose evolved in the ancestor of vascular plants, and pinpoint the duplication and subfunctionalization events that generated multiple gene modules involved in the biosynthesis of various cell wall types. We further demonstrate how secondary metabolism is transcriptionally coordinated and integrated with other cellular pathways. Finally, we identify root-specific genes in vascular plants and show that the evolution of roots did not coincide with an increased appearance of gene families, suggesting that the existing genetic material was sufficient to generate new organs.\nC_LIO_LIOur updated database at conekt.plant.tools provides a unique resource to study the evolution of genes, gene families, transcriptomes, and functional gene modules in the Archaeplastida kingdom.\nC_LI

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Kingdom-wide comparison reveals conserved diurnal gene expression in Archaeplastida

Plants have adapted to the diurnal light-dark cycle by establishing elaborate transcriptional programs that coordinate innumerable metabolic, physiological, and developmental responses to the external environment. These transcriptional programs have been studied in only a few species, and their function and conservation across algae and plants is currently unknown. We performed a comparative transcriptome analysis of the diurnal cycle of nine members of Archaeplastida, and we observed that, despite large phylogenetic distances and dramatic differences in morphology and lifestyle, diurnal transcriptional programs of these organisms are similar. However, the establishment of multicellularity coincided with the uncoupling of cell division from the diurnal cycle and decreased diurnal control of the expression of the biological pathways. Hence, our study provides evidence for the universality of diurnal gene expression and elucidates its evolutionary history among different photosynthetic eukaryotes.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2018

The genome and metabolome of the tobacco tree, Nicotiana glauca: a potential renewable feedstock for the bioeconomy

BackgroundGiven its tolerance to stress and its richness in particular secondary metabolites, the tobacco tree, Nicotiana glauca, has been considered a promising biorefinery feedstock that would not be competitive with food and fodder crops.\n\nResultsHere we present a 3.5 Gbp draft sequence and annotation of the genome of N. glauca spanning 731,465 scaffold sequences, with an N50 size of approximately 92 kbases. Furthermore, we supply a comprehensive transcriptome and metabolome analysis of leaf development comprising multiple techniques and platforms.\n\nThe genome sequence is predicted to cover nearly 80% of the estimated total genome size of N. glauca. With 73,799 genes predicted and a BUSCO score of 94.9%, we have assembled the majority of gene-rich regions successfully. RNA-Seq data revealed stage-and/or tissue-specific expression of genes, and we determined a general trend of a decrease of tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites and an increase of terpenoids as well as some of their corresponding transcripts during leaf development.\n\nConclusionThe N. glauca draft genome and its detailed transcriptome, together with paired metabolite data, constitute a resource for future studies of valuable compound analysis in tobacco species and present the first steps towards a further resolution of phylogenetic, whole genome studies in tobacco.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Vascular brassinosteroid receptors confer drought resistance without penalizing plant growth

Drought represents a major threat to food security. Mechanistic data describing plant responses to drought have been studied extensively and genes conferring drought resistance have been introduced into crop plants. However, plants with enhanced drought resistance usually display lower growth, highlighting the need for strategies to uncouple drought resistance from growth. Here, we show that overexpression of BRL3, a vascular-enriched member of the brassinosteroid receptor family, can confer drought stress tolerance in Arabidopsis. Whereas loss-of-function mutations in the ubiquitously expressed BRI1 receptor leads to drought resistance at the expense of growth, overexpression of BRL3 receptor confers drought tolerance without penalizing overall growth. Systematic analyses reveal that upon drought stress, increased BRL3 triggers the accumulation of osmoprotectant metabolites including proline and sugars. Transcriptomic analysis suggests that this results from differential expression of genes in the vascular tissues. Altogether, this data suggests that manipulating BRL3 expression could be used to engineer drought tolerant crops.

plant biology↗