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Current and potential medical therapy for obstruction‐induced myopathic bladder dysfunction (from benign prostatic hyperplasia or posterior urethral valves) focuses on symptoms. The persistent tissue pathology and dysfunction after release of obstruction is often deemed irreversible without any systematic therapeutic approaches. As rapamycin can attenuate bladder smooth muscle hypertrophy and dysfunction during the genesis of partial obstruction in vivo, we tested whether rapamycin could improve persistent function after release of obstruction (de‐obstruction or REL). Female Sprague‐Dawley rat bladders were partially obstructed (PBO) by suturing around both the urethra and a para‐urethral steel rod, then removing the rod. One day prior to release of obstruction (preREL), voiding parameters and residual urine volume of preREL+future rapa, preREL+future veh groups were recorded. Release of obstruction (REL) was performed by suture removal following 6 weeks of PBO. For 4 more weeks after the de‐obstruction, REL animals were randomized to rapamycin (REL+rapa) or vehicle (REL+veh). PBO for 6 weeks were used as positive controls. In shams, the urethra was exposed, but no suture tied. Voiding parameters and residual urine volume were measured prior to sacrifice of sham and REL+veh or REL+rapa, and PBO. Rapamycin efficacy was tested by pair‐wise comparison of changes in individual voiding data from preREL+future veh or preREL+future rapa versus REL+veh or REL+rapa, respectively, as well as by comparisons of REL+veh to REL+rapa groups. Bladders were weighed and processed for a high‐throughput QPCR array, and histopathology. Bladder/body mass ratios with PBO increased significantly and remained higher in the release phase in REL+veh animals. REL+rapa versus REL+veh improved residual volumes and micturition fractions toward sham levels. Three genes encoding extracellular proteins, BMP2, SOD3, and IGFBP7, correlated with functional improvement by Pearson's correlations. The promoters of these genes showed enrichment for several motifs including circadian E‐boxes. While obstruction and REL augmented CLOCK and NPAS2 expression above sham levels, rapamycin treatment during release significantly blocked their expression. This experimental design of pharmaco‐intervention during the de‐obstruction phase revealed a novel pathway dysregulated during the clinically relevant treatment phase of obstructive bladder myopathy.

While sugarcane is one of the world's most important economic grasses for its sugar production and biofuel potential, tools and resources to understand its genetics are lacking. This is owed to the complexity of its genome which is highly polyploid, aneuploidy and heterozygous. Additionally, modern sugarcane cultivars are the result of interspecific hybridization and repeated backcrossing between domesticated S. officinarium and wild S. spontaneum parents. Cultivar R570 is best characterized sugarcane genome to date with the release of the BAC clone single tiling path, but this assembly represents a gene-rich and collapsed view of each of R570's homeologous chromosomes. To generate a haplotype specific assembly of R570, we devised a strategy that combines two de novo assemblies of R570 (Illumina; Pacbio), 96 selfed offspring (15X cov), single chromosome libraries and HiC to sequence and separate each homeologous chromosome. Using Illumina libraries, we generated a 5 Gb de novo genome assembly, using it to extract 55 Million unique 80bp genetic markers. Genotyping these markers in 96 selfed offspring isolated 1.9 million simplex (single dose) markers that were projected onto the 7.4 Gb PacBio assembly to generate a genetic map and anchor contigs onto separate linkage groups. Contigs that cannot be anchored by simplex markers will be ordered and oriented using HiC contact maps and single chromosome libraries. This strategy of combining multiple sequencing technologies will generate a more complete assembly for one of the most complex genomes to date in the Plant Kingdom.

Sugarcane is a crop of unequivocal importance which can meet requirements for food, feed fiber and fuel. This crop, with a large wealth of genetic resources and a rich breeding history, has only a very nascent genomic history with a monoploid genome sequence. Numerous efforts are underway to unravel the mysteries of this complex crop with advances in sequencing technologies. Efforts to capture the functional part of the genome using transcriptomic studies have long been a priority. R570, a French cultivar has been the most suitable material for many sugarcane genomics studies. In an attempt to utilize the revolutionary technology of long read sequencing, we have carried out isoform sequencing of this representative cultivar with a Pac Bio sequel I system. Recently we have compared sequel II data of the same cultivar from various vegetative and reproductive tissues. A greater sequencing depth may benefit the sugarcane fraternity with a more complete transcriptome and accurate gene annotation. The present study aimed at comparing sequel I and sequel II data for R570 to harness the information contained in the large transcriptome resources and to find novel sources of variation in the light of these recent advances. The results may support future transcriptomic studies in sugarcane to make informed decisions on depth of sequencing and help to unravel the complexities of this transcriptome.

Introgression of Erianthus arundinaceus into the SRA sugarcane-breeding program has been a goal for researchers for many years. The Erianthus genome was finally accessible to sugarcane breeders with the identification in 2005 of the first Saccharum/Erianthus fertile hybrids, developed in China. Today, Saccharum/Erianthus BC3 and BC4 clones are available in Australia, and Erianthus-sugarcane hybrids have been characterised by cytogenetics and investigated for their potential resistance against pachymetra root rot, sugarcane smut and nematodes. Some clones have shown potential as new sources of resistance for incorporation into the SRA breeding program. These hybrids were created from Erianthus clones indigenous to China and their reaction to the above diseases is unknown in Australian conditions. In Meringa we also have access to many Erianthus clones of Indonesian origin. Some of these Erianthus clones have previously shown immunity to pachymetra root rot. In the late 1990s, these Indonesian Erianthus clones were used in crossing but no fertile hybrids were ever produced due to an incompatibility between the Saccharum and the Erianthus genomes. We revisited this untapped source of resistance by utilising the fertile Erianthus hybrids derived from China to cross with the Indonesian Erianthus of known resistance to pachymetra root rot. Here we report on the early stage results of introgressing Indonesian Erianthus into the SRA breeding program.

Sugarcane, a unique biological system which has evolved over time to suit the changing human needs is now being manipulated as a source of alternate energy and an array of platform chemicals. Sugarcane is a crop with diverse end uses and applications, a wealth of genetic resources and a rich breeding history. The daunting size and extreme complexity of the genome together with high heterozygosity and variable chromosome numbers has long hampered genomic research in sugarcane. Analysis of the transcriptome using long read sequencing has been reported. Normalization of libraries before sequencing has been widely employed in transcriptome analysis. In the complex sugarcane transcriptome, normalization was found to both reveal more rare sequences and result in the loss of many sequence variants. This suggested the need for deep sequencing to capture the diversity of sequences in sugarcane. Recently, a monoploid genome sequence was generated for the cultivar R570. We now report analysis of the transcriptome of this genotype and the impact of sequencing at greater depth on the recovery of transcripts. The results may guide future transcriptomic studies in sugarcane to make informed decisions on the required depth of sequencing.