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Barcenilla BB, Kundel I, Hall E, Hilty N, Ulianich P, Cook J, Turley J, Yerram M, Min JH, Castillo-González C, Shippen DE. Telomere dynamics and oxidative stress in Arabidopsis grown in lunar regolith simulant. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2024; 15:1351613. [PMID: 38434436 PMCID: PMC10908177 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1351613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/05/2024]
Abstract
NASA envisions a future where humans establish a thriving colony on the Moon by 2050. Plants will be essential for this endeavor, but little is known about their adaptation to extraterrestrial bodies. The capacity to grow plants in lunar regolith would represent a major step towards this goal by minimizing the reliance on resources transported from Earth. Recent studies reveal that Arabidopsis thaliana can germinate and grow on genuine lunar regolith as well as on lunar regolith simulant. However, plants arrest in vegetative development and activate a variety of stress response pathways, most notably the oxidative stress response. Telomeres are hotspots for oxidative damage in the genome and a marker of fitness in many organisms. Here we examine A. thaliana growth on a lunar regolith simulant and the impact of this resource on plant physiology and on telomere dynamics, telomerase enzyme activity and genome oxidation. We report that plants successfully set seed and generate a viable second plant generation if the lunar regolith simulant is pre-washed with an antioxidant cocktail. However, plants sustain a higher degree of genome oxidation and decreased biomass relative to conventional Earth soil cultivation. Moreover, telomerase activity substantially declines and telomeres shorten in plants grown in lunar regolith simulant, implying that genome integrity may not be sustainable over the long-term. Overcoming these challenges will be an important goal in ensuring success on the lunar frontier.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Dorothy E. Shippen
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States
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Zavala-Paez M, Holliday J, Hamilton JA. Leveraging whole-genome sequencing to estimate telomere length in plants. Mol Ecol Resour 2024; 24:e13899. [PMID: 37966130 DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.13899] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 11/02/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Changes in telomere length are increasingly used to indicate species' response to environmental stress across diverse taxa. Despite this broad use, few studies have explored telomere length in plants. Thus, evaluation of new approaches for measuring telomeres in plants is needed. Rapid advances in sequencing approaches and bioinformatic tools now allow estimation of telomere content from whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data, a proxy for telomere length. While telomere content has been quantified extensively using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and WGS in humans, no study to date has compared the effectiveness of WGS in estimating telomere length in plants relative to qPCR approaches. In this study, we use 100 Populus clones re-sequenced using short-read Illumina sequencing to quantify telomere length comparing three different bioinformatic approaches (Computel, K-seek and TRIP) in addition to qPCR. Overall, telomere length estimates varied across different bioinformatic approaches, but were highly correlated across methods for individual genotypes. A positive correlation was observed between WGS estimates and qPCR, however, Computel estimates exhibited the greatest correlation. Computel incorporates genome coverage into telomere length calculations, suggesting that genome coverage is likely important to telomere length quantification when using WGS data. Overall, telomere estimates from WGS provided greater precision and accuracy of telomere length estimates relative to qPCR. The findings suggest WGS is a promising approach for assessing telomere length and, as the field of telomere ecology evolves, may provide added value to assaying response to biotic and abiotic environments for plants needed to accelerate plant breeding and conservation management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michelle Zavala-Paez
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Jason Holliday
- Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA
| | - Jill A Hamilton
- Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
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3
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Barcenilla BB, Meyers AD, Castillo-González C, Young P, Min JH, Song J, Phadke C, Land E, Canaday E, Perera IY, Bailey SM, Aquilano R, Wyatt SE, Shippen DE. Arabidopsis telomerase takes off by uncoupling enzyme activity from telomere length maintenance in space. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7854. [PMID: 38030615 PMCID: PMC10686995 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41510-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/07/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Spaceflight-induced changes in astronaut telomeres have garnered significant attention in recent years. While plants represent an essential component of future long-duration space travel, the impacts of spaceflight on plant telomeres and telomerase have not been examined. Here we report on the telomere dynamics of Arabidopsis thaliana grown aboard the International Space Station. We observe no changes in telomere length in space-flown Arabidopsis seedlings, despite a dramatic increase in telomerase activity (up to 150-fold in roots), as well as elevated genome oxidation. Ground-based follow up studies provide further evidence that telomerase is induced by different environmental stressors, but its activity is uncoupled from telomere length. Supporting this conclusion, genetically engineered super-telomerase lines with enhanced telomerase activity maintain wildtype telomere length. Finally, genome oxidation is inversely correlated with telomerase activity levels. We propose a redox protective capacity for Arabidopsis telomerase that may promote survivability in harsh environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Borja Barbero Barcenilla
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Alexander D Meyers
- Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA
- Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA
- NASA Postdoctoral Program, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Kennedy Space Center FL, Merritt Island, FL, 32899, USA
| | - Claudia Castillo-González
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Pierce Young
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Ji-Hee Min
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Jiarui Song
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Chinmay Phadke
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Eric Land
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Emma Canaday
- Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA
- Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA
| | - Imara Y Perera
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Susan M Bailey
- Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA
| | - Roberto Aquilano
- National Technological University, Rosario Regional Faculty, Zeballos 1341, S2000, Rosario, Argentina
| | - Sarah E Wyatt
- Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA.
- Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, Ohio University, Athens, OH, 45701, USA.
| | - Dorothy E Shippen
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, 2128 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
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5
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Méteignier LV, Nützmann HW, Papon N, Osbourn A, Courdavault V. Emerging mechanistic insights into the regulation of specialized metabolism in plants. NATURE PLANTS 2023; 9:22-30. [PMID: 36564633 DOI: 10.1038/s41477-022-01288-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Plants biosynthesize a broad range of natural products through specialized and species-specific metabolic pathways that are fuelled by core metabolism, together forming a metabolic network. Specialized metabolites have important roles in development and adaptation to external cues, and they also have invaluable pharmacological properties. A growing body of evidence has highlighted the impact of translational, transcriptional, epigenetic and chromatin-based regulation and evolution of specialized metabolism genes and metabolic networks. Here we review the forefront of this research field and extrapolate to medicinal plants that synthetize rare molecules. We also discuss how this new knowledge could help in improving strategies to produce useful plant-derived pharmaceuticals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Hans-Wilhelm Nützmann
- The Milner Centre for Evolution, Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Nicolas Papon
- IRF, SFR ICAT, Université Angers and Université de Bretagne-Occidentale, Angers, France
| | - Anne Osbourn
- Department of Biochemistry and Metabolism, John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK.
| | - Vincent Courdavault
- EA2106 Biomolécules et Biotechnologies Végétales, Université de Tours, Tours, France.
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Shakirov EV, Chen JJL, Shippen DE. Plant telomere biology: The green solution to the end-replication problem. THE PLANT CELL 2022; 34:2492-2504. [PMID: 35511166 PMCID: PMC9252485 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koac122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Telomere maintenance is a fundamental cellular process conserved across all eukaryotic lineages. Although plants and animals diverged over 1.5 billion years ago, lessons learned from plants continue to push the boundaries of science, revealing detailed molecular mechanisms in telomere biology with broad implications for human health, aging biology, and stress responses. Recent studies of plant telomeres have unveiled unexpected divergence in telomere sequence and architecture, and the proteins that engage telomeric DNA and telomerase. The discovery of telomerase RNA components in the plant kingdom and some algae groups revealed new insight into the divergent evolution and the universal core of telomerase across major eukaryotic kingdoms. In addition, resources cataloging the abundant natural variation in Arabidopsis thaliana, maize (Zea mays), and other plants are providing unparalleled opportunities to understand the genetic networks that govern telomere length polymorphism and, as a result, are uncovering unanticipated crosstalk between telomeres, environmental factors, organismal fitness, and plant physiology. Here we recap current advances in plant telomere biology and put this field in perspective relative to telomere and telomerase research in other eukaryotic lineages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eugene V Shakirov
- Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science, Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia 25701, USA
| | - Julian J -L Chen
- School of Molecular Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA
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