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Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum is a member of the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC), which is composed of three species and diverse subspecific groups. Some strains cause bacterial wilt in Solanum lycopersicum ; others are beneficial for their hosts. Herein, we present the complete genome sequence of an RSSC strain, Sw698, beneficial for S. lycopersicum growth.

Ralstonia solanacearum is a bacterial wilt pathogen of Solanum lycopersicum . Its pathogenicity is the result of coevolution during continuous interaction with its host plants under given biotic and abiotic environments. To elucidate clues for pathogenicity of our WR-1 strain, its genome sequence was analyzed.

The plants of the Papaveraceae family are used for ornamental purposes because of their varicolored flowers, and are known as medicinal crops. Some species of poppy are used in foods such as salads or sorbets, utilizing the seeds, leaves, pedicels, and petals. There are several morphological similarities among the species of this family, which make it difficult to distinguish the seeds of different species or identify opium poppies. The family is known to contain about 100 species. The leaves of Iceland poppy (Papaver nudicaule) cultivars with five different flower colors (white, yellow, pink, orange, and scarlet) were sequenced to obtain transcriptome data. Sequencing was done on plants in three different developmental growth stages (leaf rosette, branching and elongation of internodes, and blossom and seed formation). Systematic bioinformatics analysis was conducted to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) unique to the five Papaver nudicaule cultivars and two other Papaver species (Papaver rhoeas and Papaver somniferum). A 739-Mb reference transcriptome (94.6% BUSCO completeness score) from a 566-Gb RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) dataset was obtained. Likewise, 18 significant SNPs were identified to authenticate the three species and five cultivars of Papaver. This study will facilitate future Papaver research, including evaluation of the results for more detailed characterization.

There is great interest in the enhancement of isoflavones as one of the functional ingredients in soybean. This study aimed to investigate the effects of changes in the ecological environment over different planting times on isoflavone content. A total of 28 Korean soybean cultivars were grown at different planting times in late May, mid-June, and early July and their isoflavone content was measured over 2 years (2017 and 2018). Analyses of variance revealed significant effects of genotypes, planting times, years, and their interactions on isoflavone content. The average content of total isoflavone, as well as its component groups of malonylglucoside and aglycon, increased significantly as the seed planting time was delayed from late May to early July. The accumulation of each isoflavone component varied with changes in the planting time. The isoflavone content of the soybean cultivars for soy-sprout and soy-paste and tofu were higher for plantings in early July than for those in late May and/or mid-June, except for the black soybean cultivars. Despite significant correlations of the isoflavone content of the 28 cultivars among the three planting times, the responses of individual cultivars varied in isoflavone content by planting time. When planting was delayed, the time to flowering and maturity was also delayed and the number of days of growth from planting or flowering to maturity decreased; however, this was not related to isoflavone content. When planting was delayed, the temperature during the ripening period from flowering to maturity was lower, which was inversely related to the isoflavone content.

Flooding stress causes severe yield reduction in soybean worldwide. The development of stress-tolerant cultivars could be an effective measure to reduce the negative effects of flooding stress. Molecular information on the gene expression pattern of tolerant and susceptible genotypes under flooding stress could be valuable to improve the flooding tolerance in soybean. The objective of this study was to analyze the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) revealed by RNA sequencing in the soybean leaf tissues of tolerant (‘Paldalkong’ and ‘Danbaekkong’) and susceptible (‘NTS1116’) cultivars under flooding stress. Seedlings were grown in a well-watered condition up to the V1–V2 stage and flood-stressed by inundating ~ 10-cm water for 14 days. A total of 22,468 genes were differentially expressed in flood-stressed condition compared to the well-watered control condition, out of which 13,729, 13,405, and 13,160 were differentially expressed in ‘Paldalkong’, ‘Danbaekkong’, and ‘NTS1116’, respectively. A higher number of some of the flooding tolerance-related genes such as lipoxygenase, expansin, glutathione S-transferase, and sugar efflux transporter were up-regulated in the tolerant cultivars than in the susceptible cultivar. The number of some abscisic acid-related transcription factors of basic leucine zipper domain and myeloblastosis families was also higher in the tolerant cultivars than in the susceptible cultivar. The molecular information about the DEGs of tolerant and susceptible cultivars obtained in the present study could be valuable to improve the flooding tolerance in soybeans.

Improving drought stress tolerance of soybean could be an effective way to minimize the yield reduction in the drought prevailing regions. Identification of drought tolerance-related quantitative trait loci (QTLs) is useful to facilitate the development of stress-tolerant varieties. This study aimed to identify the QTLs for drought tolerance in soybean using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population developed from the cross between a drought-tolerant ‘PI416937’ and a susceptible ‘Cheonsang’ cultivar. Phenotyping was done with a weighted drought coefficient derived from the vegetative and reproductive traits. The genetic map was constructed using 2648 polymorphic SNP markers that distributed on 20 chromosomes with a mean genetic distance of 1.36 cM between markers. A total of 10 QTLs with 3.52–4.7 logarithm of odds value accounting for up to 12.9% phenotypic variance were identified on seven chromosomes. Five chromosomes—2, 7, 10, 14, and 20—contained one QTL each, and chromosomes 1 and 19 harbored two and three QTLs, respectively. The chromosomal locations of seven QTLs overlapped or located close to the related QTLs and/or potential candidate genes reported earlier. The QTLs and closely linked markers could be utilized in maker-assisted selection to accelerate the breeding for drought tolerance in soybean.

Flooding stress is a serious problem in soybean production, causing a remarkable yield reduction. The onset of rainy season during the early growth of soybean in Korea and some other parts of the world potentially subjects soybean plants to flooding stress. The objective of this study was to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for flooding tolerance using a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between ‘Danbaekkong’ (flood-tolerant) and ‘NTS1116′ (flood-susceptible) cultivars grown in a plastic house for two years. The plants were flood-stressed at the V1-V2 stage by ponding about 10 cm water from the soil surface. Leaf chlorophyll content and shoot dry weight were measured under control and flooded conditions to map the QTL. The genetic map was constructed using 1689 polymorphic markers obtained from the 180K Axiom® SoyaSNP markers used for genotyping the population. Ten QTL with 3.39−5.14 logarithm of odds scores and 8.1−30.7% phenotypic variations (PVE) were identified on seven chromosomes. One QTL on chromosomes 6 and 15 and two QTL on chromosome 7 were detected at least in two different environments causing up to 30.7% PVE, suggesting their potential applications in the breeding of flood-tolerant soybeans. The results could be useful in further exploring the genetic basis of flooding tolerance and developing tolerant cultivars of soybean.

Cynanchum wilfordii is a traditional herbal medicine and belongs to the family Apocynaceae. The C. wilfordii mitochondrial genome consists of three circular chromosomes (named chromosomes I-III), the lengths of which are 379,060, 352,767 and 111,332 nucleotides. The mitochondrial genome encodes 58 genes, including 38 protein-coding genes, 17 transfer RNA genes and three ribosomal RNA genes. Of these 58 genes, 37 are located in chromosome I, 35 in chromosome II and 15 in chromosome III. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that among the 14 reported species of Asterids, C. wilfordii is most closely related to Asclepias syriaca.

Seed coat cracking (SCC), particularly the Type-I irregular cracking, is critical in determining the quality of appearance and commercial value of soybean seeds. The objective of this study was to identify the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for SCC with high-density genetic map. One hundred sixty-seven recombinant inbred lines (RILs) developed from a cross between Uram (SCC-resistant) and Chamol (SCC-susceptible) were evaluated for SCC over 2 years (2016–2017). The QTL analysis identified 12 QTLs located on chromosomes 2 (D1b), 6 (C2), 8 (A2), 9 (K), 10 (O), 12 (H), 19 (L), and 20 (I). Out of the 12 QTLs, qSC2-1, qSC9, SC10-1, qSC10-2, and qSC12 were novel QTLs and the other seven QTLs (qSC2-2, qSC2-3, qSC6, qSC8, qSC19-1, qSC19-2, and qSC20) were found to co-localize with the previously identified QTLs. The mean SCC of the RILs of early maturity group was significantly higher than that of the late maturity group, suggesting an association between SCC and maturity loci. In addition, although 10 QTLs were distantly located from the maturity loci (E1, E3, E4, E7, and E10), qSC10-1 and qSC10-2 co-localized with the maturity loci E2. The results obtained in this study provide useful genetic information on SCC which could be used in the SCC breeding programs.

Tomato belongs to the Solanaceae family of plants. It is a diploid plant with 12 chromosomes. Previous studies have reported that its genome size is 950 MB with 35,000 protein-coding genes. Micro-Tom Tomato is a miniature dwarf determinate tomato cultivar. It has a small-sized genome, a short lifecycle, and a short seed-setting under fluorescent light. These features are similar to those of Arabidopsis. Consequently, Micro-Tom Tomato is considered as a model cultivar of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) suitable for research. We sequenced its transcriptomes to identify tissue-specific gene candidate profiles in different plant tissues (petals, sepals, pistils, and stamens) at developmental stages.

Papaver plants can produce diverse bioactive alkaloids. Papaver rhoeas Linnaeus (common poppy or corn poppy) is an annual flowering medicinal plant used for treating cough, sleep disorder, and as a sedative, pain reliever, and food. It contains various powerful alkaloids like rhoeadine, benzylisoquinoline, and proaporphine. To investigate and identify alkaloids in the aerial parts of P. rhoeas, samples were collected at different growth stages and analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry. A liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry method was developed for the identification and metabolite profiling of alkaloids for P. rhoeas by comparing with Papaver somniferum. Eighteen alkaloids involved in benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis were used to optimize the liquid chromatography gradient and mass spectrometry conditions. Fifty‐five alkaloids, including protoberberine, benzylisoquinoline, aporphine, benzophenanthridine, and rhoeadine‐type alkaloids, were identified authentically or tentatively by liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry in samples taken during various growth stages. Rhoeadine alkaloids were observed only in P. rhoeas samples, and codeine and morphine were tentatively identified in P. somniferum. The liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry method can be a powerful tool for the identification of diverse metabolites in the genus Papaver. These results may help understand the biosynthesis of alkaloids in P. rhoeas and evaluate the quality of this plant for possible medicinal applications.

The plants in the Papaver genus are widely known as Poppies, which is used for ornamental and medicinal purposes, to utilize its plants derived alkaloids and attractive flowers. From this genus, we have sequenced the transcriptomes of four species's (Papaver rhoeas (two cultivar), Papaver nudicaule (five cultivar), Papaver fauriei, and Papaver somniferum) leaves at three developmental stages (i.e., leaf rosette (30 days), elongation and branching (60 days), and blossom and seed formations (90 days)), to elucidate the secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene expression profiles at respective plant stages.

Table S1. IC50 values of Papaver nudicaule cultivars. (DOCX 14â kb)

Poppies are well-known plants in the family Papaveraceae that are rich in alkaloids. This family contains 61 species, and in this study we sequenced the transcriptomes of four species&rsquo, (Papaver rhoeas, Papaver nudicaule, Papaver fauriei, and Papaver somniferum) leaves. These transcripts were systematically assessed for the expression of secondary metabolite biosynthesis (SMB) genes and cytochromes, and their expression profiles were assessed for use in bioinformatics analyses. This study contributed 265 Gb (13 libraries with three biological replicates) of leaf transcriptome data from three Papaver plant developmental stages. Sequenced transcripts were assembled into 815 Mb of contigs, including 226 Mb of full-length transcripts. The transcripts for 53 KEGG pathways, 55 cytochrome superfamilies, and benzylisoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis (BIA) were identified and compared to four other alkaloid-rich genomes. Additionally, 22 different alkaloids and their relative expression profiles in three developmental stages of Papaver species were assessed by targeted metabolomics using LC-QTOF-MS/MS. Collectively, the results are given in co-occurrence heat-maps to help researchers obtain an overview of the transcripts and their differential expression in the Papaver development life cycle, particularly in leaves. Moreover, this dataset will be a valuable resource to derive hypotheses to mitigate an array of Papaver developmental and secondary metabolite biosynthesis issues in the future.

The Papaver spp. (Papaver rhoeas (Corn poppy) and Papaver nudicaule (Iceland poppy)) genera are ornamental and medicinal plants that are used for the isolation of alkaloid drugs. In this study, we generated 700 Mb of transcriptome sequences with the PacBio platform. They were assembled into 120,926 contigs, and 1185 (82.2%) of the benchmarking universal single-copy orthologs (BUSCO) core genes were completely present in our assembled transcriptome. Furthermore, using 128 Gb of Illumina sequences, the transcript expression was assessed at three stages of Papaver plant development (30, 60, and 90 days), from which we identified 137 differentially expressed transcripts. Furthermore, three co-occurrence heat maps are generated from 51 different plant genomes along with the Papaver transcriptome, i.e., secondary metabolite biosynthesis, isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis (BIA) pathway, and cytochrome. Sixty-nine transcripts in the BIA pathway along with 22 different alkaloids (quantified with LC-QTOF-MS/MS) were mapped into the BIA KEGG map (map00950). Finally, we identified 39 full-length cytochrome transcripts and compared them with other genomes. Collectively, this transcriptome data, along with the expression and quantitative metabolite profiles, provides an initial recording of secondary metabolites and their expression related to Papaver plant development. Moreover, these profiles could help to further detail the functional characterization of the various secondary metabolite biosynthesis and Papaver plant development associated problems.

Platycodon grandiflorus (balloon flower) and Codonopsis lanceolata (bonnet bellflower) are important herbs used in Asian traditional medicine, and both belong to the botanical family Campanulaceae. In this study, we designed and implemented a de novo DNA sequencing and assembly strategy to map the complete mitochondrial genomes of the first two members of the Campanulaceae using low-coverage Illumina DNA sequencing data. We produced a total of 28.9 Gb of paired-end sequencing data from the genomic DNA of P. grandiflorus (20.9 Gb) and C. lanceolata (8.0 Gb). The assembled mitochondrial genome of P. grandiflorus was found to consist of two circular chromosomes, the master circle contains 56 genes, and the minor circle contains 42 genes. The C. lanceolata mitochondrial genome consists of a single circle harboring 54 genes. Using a comparative genome structure and a pattern of repeated sequences, we show that the P. grandiflorus minor circle resulted from a recombination event involving the direct repeats of the master circle. Our dataset will be useful for comparative genomics and for evolutionary studies, and will facilitate further biological and phylogenetic characterization of species in the Campanulaceae.

Anthocyanins are involved in many diverse functions in rice, but their benefits have yet to be clearly demonstrated. Our objective in this study was to identify anthocyanin-related genes in black rice plants. We identified anthocyanin-related genes in black rice plants using a combination of whole-genome resequencing, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), microarray experiments, and reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Using multi-layer screening from 30 rice accessions, we identified 172,922 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 1276 differentially expressed genes that appear to be related to anthocyanin biosynthesis. We identified 18 putative genes from 172,922 SNPs using intensive selective sweeps. The 18 candidate genes identified from SNPs were not significantly correlated with the RNA-seq expression pattern or other well-known anthocyanin biosynthesis/metabolism genes. We also identified nine putative genes from 1276 differentially expressed genes using RNA-seq transcriptome analysis. In addition, we identified four phylogenetic groups from these nine candidate genes and 51 pathway-network genes. Finally, we verified nine anthocyanin-related genes using a newly designed microarray and semi-quantitative RT-PCR. We suggest that these nine identified genes appear to be related to the regulation of anthocyanin biosynthesis and/or metabolism. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s13205-018-1140-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The plants in the Papaver genus are widely known as Poppies, which is used for ornamental and medicinal purposes, to utilize its plants derived alkaloids and attractive flowers. From this genus, we have sequenced the transcriptomes of four species's (Papaver rhoeas (two cultivar), Papaver nudicaule (five cultivar), Papaver fauriei, and Papaver somniferum) leaves at three developmental stages (i.e., leaf rosette (30 days), elongation and branching (60 days), and blossom and seed formations (90 days)), to elucidate the secondary metabolite biosynthesis gene expression profiles at respective plant stages.

Allergies are an important health problem. In the present study, a web-based allergen platform was developed with an allergen database and allergenicity prediction functions. Drawing from the literature and public databases, 2,939 allergens were identified and categorised according to their origin and known information. This platform provides a function to search allergenic proteins through formats such as keywords, FASTA, BLAST, and provides sequence-based, motif-based and epitope-based methods for allergenicity prediction. Using specific sequence or allergen predictions, the user can find summarised allergen information to link the UniProtKB and the PDB databases.

To isolate bacteria secreting protease, which can dissolve fibrin efficiently, we prepared chunggukjang using rice straw and isolated, preliminarily, approximately 100 bacterial stains. Their capabilities to dissolve milk protein as well as fibrin included in media were then examined and finally, five strains named J1 - J5 were selected. Among them, J-4, which is close to bacillus subtilis, showed highest activity for fibrin dissolution. Proteases secreted from the J-4 strain were partially purified from culture supernatant using DEAE-sepharose column chromatography and identified with SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Three proteins were subjected to analysis with MALDI-TOF and PMF (Peptide Mass Fingerprinting). 41.9 kDa protein was identified as a neutral protease. On the other hand, 45 kDa protein turned out to be bacillopeptidase F, with a molecular mass of 91.7 kDa, indicating that partially purified peptide is a degradation product.

The National Agricultural Biotechnology Information Center (NABIC) plays a leading role in maintaining the agricultural genome information in Korea. Our system provides valuable genomic information, including genetic markers, gene annotation, analytical tools and next-generation sequencing system to analyze massive sequencing data. In 2014, we reconstructed a biological integrated-based genome database for agricultural plants and livestock. The NABIC has developed the application of informatics approaches to agricultural biotechnology to support molecular and conventional breeding programs for new crops. In the future, we plan to develop an integrated biotechnology database that combines genome and gene functional information in the major crops. In addition, we will provide a BIGDATA-based database and bioinformatics tools to solve complex biological problems with next-generation sequencing technologies to analyze massive sequencing and transcriptomics data.

Anthocyanins are a group of secondary metabolite that is responsible for the color in plant and their antioxidant activity has been noticed as a health-promoting material. To identify the genes responsible for anthocyaninenrichment in the black rice grains, we assessed the expression of transcripts in both black and white rice cultivars using the 135K Oryza sativa microarray and found that the 3,728 genes were associated with the production of anthocyanin pigment. Among them, the 573 conserved orthologous genes were identified using the COGs analyses and were compared with the existing flavonoid-pathway network. Enriched-pathway analysis finally resulted in 53 candidates for anthocyanin biosynthesis. These genes were anchored to the chromosomes of the rice genome to identify their genetic-map positions and were subjected to the phylogenetic construction together with their 31 homologous proteins sequences from A. thaliana, using the maximum-likelihood method. Our candidate genes seem to either play a regulatory role in anthocyanin biosynthesis or be related to anthocyanin metabolism.