Spruce giga-genomes: structurally similar yet distinctive with differentially expanding gene families and rapidly evolving genes.

Spruces (Picea spp.) are coniferous trees widespread in boreal and mountainous forests of the northern hemisphere, with large economic significance and enormous contributions to global carbon sequestration. Spruces harbor very large genomes with high repetitiveness, hampering their comparative analysis.

Complete Biosynthesis of the Anti-Diabetic Plant Metabolite Montbretin A.

Diabetes and obesity are affecting human health worldwide. Their occurrence is increasing with lifestyle choices, globalization of food systems, and economic development. The specialized plant metabolite montbretin A (MbA) is being developed as an antidiabetes and antiobesity treatment due to its potent and specific inhibition of the human pancreatic α-amylase.

Flavonol Biosynthesis Genes and Their Use in Engineering the Plant Antidiabetic Metabolite Montbretin A.

The plant metabolite montbretin A (MbA) and its precursor mini-MbA are potential new drugs for treating type 2 diabetes. These complex acylated flavonol glycosides only occur in small amounts in the corms of the ornamental plant montbretia ( × ). Our goal is to metabolically engineer using montbretia genes to achieve increased production of mini-MbA and MbA.

Discovery of UDP-Glycosyltransferases and BAHD-Acyltransferases Involved in the Biosynthesis of the Antidiabetic Plant Metabolite Montbretin A.

Plant specialized metabolism serves as a rich resource of biologically active molecules for drug discovery. The acylated flavonol glycoside montbretin A (MbA) and its precursor myricetin 3--(6'--caffeoyl)-glucosyl rhamnoside (mini-MbA) are potent inhibitors of human pancreatic α-amylase and are being developed as drug candidates to treat type-2 diabetes. MbA occurs in corms of the ornamental plant montbretia (), but a system for large-scale MbA production is currently unavailable.

A Conifer UDP-Sugar Dependent Glycosyltransferase Contributes to Acetophenone Metabolism and Defense against Insects.

Acetophenones are phenolic compounds involved in the resistance of white spruce () against spruce budworm (), a major forest pest in North America. The acetophenones pungenol and piceol commonly accumulate in spruce foliage in the form of the corresponding glycosides, pungenin and picein. These glycosides appear to be inactive against the insect but can be cleaved by a spruce β-glucosidase, PgβGLU-1, which releases the active aglycons.

Quantitative metabolome, proteome and transcriptome analysis of midgut and fat body tissues in the mountain pine beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, and insights into pheromone biosynthesis.

Bark beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytinae) are pests of many forests around the world. The mountain pine beetle (MPB), Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is a significant pest of western North American pine forests. The MPB is able to overcome the defences of pine trees through pheromone-assisted aggregation that results in a mass attack of host trees.

Histology and cell wall biochemistry of stone cells in the physical defence of conifers against insects.

Conifers possess an array of physical and chemical defences against stem-boring insects. Stone cells provide a physical defence associated with resistance against bark beetles and weevils. In Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), abundance of stone cells in the cortex of apical shoots is positively correlated with resistance to white pine weevil (Pissodes strobi).

Improved white spruce (Picea glauca) genome assemblies and annotation of large gene families of conifer terpenoid and phenolic defense metabolism.

White spruce (Picea glauca), a gymnosperm tree, has been established as one of the models for conifer genomics. We describe the draft genome assemblies of two white spruce genotypes, PG29 and WS77111, innovative tools for the assembly of very large genomes, and the conifer genomics resources developed in this process. The two white spruce genotypes originate from distant geographic regions of western (PG29) and eastern (WS77111) North America, and represent elite trees in two Canadian tree-breeding programs.

Assembling the 20 Gb white spruce (Picea glauca) genome from whole-genome shotgun sequencing data.

Unlabelled: White spruce (Picea glauca) is a dominant conifer of the boreal forests of North America, and providing genomics resources for this commercially valuable tree will help improve forest management and conservation efforts. Sequencing and assembling the large and highly repetitive spruce genome though pushes the boundaries of the current technology. Here, we describe a whole-genome shotgun sequencing strategy using two Illumina sequencing platforms and an assembly approach using the ABySS software.