Multilocus ISSR Markers Reveal Two Major Genetic Groups in Spanish and South African Populations of the Grapevine Fungal Pathogen Cadophora luteo-olivacea

Cadophora luteo-olivacea is a lesser-known fungal trunk pathogen of grapevine which has been recently isolated from vines showing decline symptoms in grape growing regions worldwide. In this study, 80 C. luteo-olivacea isolates (65 from Spain and 15 from South Africa) were studied. Inter-simple-sequence repeat-polymerase chain reaction (ISSR-PCR) generated 55 polymorphic loci from four ISSR primers selected from an initial screen of 13 ISSR primers. The ISSR markers revealed 40 multilocus genotypes (MLGs) in the global population. Minimum spanning network analysis showed that the MLGs from South Africa clustered around the most frequent genotype, while the genotypes from Spain were distributed all across the network. Principal component analysis and dendrograms based on genetic distance and bootstrapping identified two highly differentiated genetic clusters in the Spanish and South African C. luteo-olivacea populations, with no intermediate genotypes between these clusters. Movement within the Spanish provinces may have occurred repeatedly given the frequent retrieval of the same genotype in distant locations. The results obtained in this study provide new insights into the population genetic structure of C. luteo-olivacea in Spain and highlights the need to produce healthy and quality planting material in grapevine nurseries to avoid the spread of this fungus throughout different grape growing regions

Sensory neurons selectively upregulate synthesis and transport of the beta III-tubulin protein during axonal regeneration

The effects of peripheral nerve injury on the content, synthesis, and axonal transport of the class III beta-tubulin protein in adult rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons were examined. Recent reports of selective increases in the steady-state levels of the beta III-tubulin mRNA during axonal regeneration (Moskowitz et al., 1993) led to the hypothesis that upregulated levels of expression of the beta III- tubulin isotype that alter the composition of neuronal microtubules is important for effective axonal regrowth. If this is the case, the increases in mRNA levels must be translated into increased beta III- tubulin protein levels and subsequently modify the axonal cytoskeleton via axonal transport mechanisms. The present study assessed whether or not this occurs by examining beta III-tubulin protein content in adult rat lumbar DRG neurons at different times (1–14 d) after a distal sciatic nerve crush (approximately 55 mm from the DRG) by Western blotting and immunocytochemistry with a beta III-tubulin specific monoclonal antibody. These studies showed substantial increases in beta III-tubulin content in DRG neurons, as well as in proximal regions of peripheral sensory axons (0–6 mm from the DRG), from 1–2 weeks after a distal nerve injury. Pulse labeling of DRG neurons with 35S-methionine and 35S-cysteine and immunoprecipitation of labeled beta III-tubulin indicated that the synthesis of beta III-tubulin was increased in the DRG after axotomy. Studies of axonal transport, wherein L5 DRG proteins were labeled with 35S-methionine and 35S-cysteine by microinjection, revealed that slow component b(SCb) of axonal transport conveyed more labeled tubulin moving at apparently faster rates through the intact regions of sciatic nerve axons in response to crush injury of the distal sciatic nerve. Immunoprecipitation experiments using proximal peripheral nerve segments showed that SCb in distally injured DRG neurons was enriched in the beta III-tubulin isotype. These findings demonstrate that the augmented synthesis of beta III-tubulin after axotomy alters the composition of the axonally transported cytoskeleton that moves with SCb. The increased amounts and rate of delivery of beta III-tubulin in axons of regenerating DRG neurons suggest that the altered pattern of tubulin gene expression that is initiated by axotomy impacts on the composition and organization of the axonal cytoskeleton in a manner that can facilitate axonal regrowth.</jats:p

Quantification of Gene Expression after Painful Nerve Injury: Validation of Optimal Reference Genes

Stably expressed housekeeping genes (HKGs) are necessary for standardization of transcript measurement by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR). Peripheral nerve injury disrupts expression of numerous genes in sensory neurons, but the stability of conventional HKGs has not been tested in this context. We examined the stability of candidate HKGs during nerve injury, including the commonly used 18s ribosomal RNA (18s rRNA), β tubulin I (Tubb5) and β tubulin III (Tubb3), actin, glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase 1 (HPRT1), and mitogen activated protein kinase 6 (MAPK6). Total RNA for cDNA synthesis was isolated from dorsal root ganglia of rats at 3, 7 and 21 days following either skin incision alone or spinal nerve ligation, after which the axotomized and adjacent ganglia were analyzed separately. Relative stability of HKGs was determined using statistical algorithms geNorm and NormFinder. Both analyses identified MAPK6 and GAPDH as the two most stable HKGs for normalizing gene expression for qRT-PCR analysis in the context of peripheral nerve injury. Our findings indicate that a priori analysis of HKG expression levels is important for accurate normalization of gene expression in models of nerve injury