Publications by authors named "Maria F Grossi de Sa"

The humoral response plays a crucial role in insect defense against parasites and pathogens, typically producing antimicrobial peptides through the Toll, IMD, and Jak-STAT signaling pathways, as well as melanization via phenoloxidases. However, many studies use nonpathogenic or opportunistic organisms and often infect insects in nonnatural ways, such as piercing or injecting the pathogen into the hemocoel. The objective of this study was to examine the modulation of the main humoral pathway genes involved in the interaction between the nonmodel organism Diatraea saccharalis (the sugarcane borer) and different biological control agents.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • AtAPC7 is a subunit of the anaphase promoting complex in Arabidopsis thaliana that is conserved across eukaryotes and has variants with potential benefits for plant health and growth.
  • Research involving overexpressed full-length AtAPC7 and its C-terminal portion showed that while both improve plant growth and resistance to viruses, the full-length variant (APC7) is more effective in enhancing plant productivity and photosynthesis.
  • The study suggests that AtAPC7 plays a crucial role in regulating plant development and defense, opening avenues for its use in crop biotechnology to boost growth and resilience against pathogens.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Bacterial infections are a major health threat, with antibiotic resistance making treatment particularly difficult, especially for staphylococcal infections.
  • Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) like the Cry10Aa protein show potential as alternatives to traditional antibiotics due to their unique properties and effectiveness against multidrug-resistant bacteria.
  • The study developed six peptide variants using the Joker algorithm, revealing that two specific peptides (AMPCry10Aa_1 and AMPCry10Aa_5) effectively killed bacteria within two hours, remained stable in human serum, and showed low toxicity to human cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The cotton boll weevil (CBW, Anthonomus grandis) stands as one of the most significant threats to cotton crops (Gossypium hirsutum). Despite substantial efforts, the development of a commercially viable transgenic cotton event for effective open-field control of CBW has remained elusive. This study describes a detailed characterization of the insecticidal toxins Cry23Aa and Cry37Aa against CBW.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Lastly, the bZIP gene family encompasses genes that have been reported to play a role in flower development, such as bZIP14 (FD). Notably, bZIP14 is essential for Flowering Locus T (FT) initiation of floral development in Arabidopsis (Abe et al. 2005).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ex vitro hairy root system from petioles of detached soybean leaves allows the functional validation of genes using classical transgenesis and CRISPR strategies (e.g., sgRNA validation, gene activation) associated with nematode bioassays.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

SMAX/SMXL family genes were successfully identified and characterized in the chickpea and lentil and gene expression data revealed several genes associated with the modulation of plant branching and powerful targets for use in transgenesis and genome editing. Strigolactones (SL) play essential roles in plant growth, rooting, development, and branching, and are associated with plant resilience to abiotic and biotic stress conditions. Likewise, karrikins (KAR) are "plant smoke-derived molecules" that act in a hormonal signaling pathway similar to SL playing an important role in seed germination and hairy root elongation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Elevated [CO ] (E[CO ]) mitigates agricultural losses of C4 plants under drought. Although several studies have described the molecular responses of the C4 plant species Sorghum bicolor during drought exposure, few have reported the combined effects of drought and E[CO ] (E[CO ]/D) on the roots. A previous study showed that, among plant organs, green prop roots (GPRs) under E[CO ]/D presented the second highest increase in biomass after leaves compared with ambient [CO ]/D.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated transformation has long been explored as a versatile and reliable method for gene function validation in many plant species, including soybean (Glycine max). Likewise, detached-leaf assays have been widely used for rapid and mass screening of soybean genotypes for disease resistance. The present study combines these two methods to establish an efficient and practical system to generate transgenic soybean hairy roots from detached leaves and their subsequent culture under ex vitro conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The co-occurrence of biotic and abiotic stresses in agricultural areas severely affects crop performance and productivity. Drought is one of the most adverse environmental stresses, and its association with root-knot nematodes further limits the development of several economically important crops, such as cowpea. Plant responses to combined stresses are complex and require novel adaptive mechanisms through the induction of specific biotic and abiotic signaling pathways.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The cotton boll weevil (CBW) () is one of the major insect pests of cotton in Brazil. Currently, CBW control is mainly achieved by insecticide application, which is costly and insufficient to ensure effective crop protection. RNA interference (RNAi) has been used in gene function analysis and the development of insect control methods.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The sugarcane giant borer is a major pest that leads to significant losses in sugarcane crops, and traditional control methods like chemicals and manual efforts are largely ineffective.
  • - In this study, researchers evaluated the toxicity of four Cry toxins (Cry1A and Cry2Aa) on the borer's larvae, finding that Cry1Ac was the most effective, showing significantly higher activity compared to the other toxins.
  • - Molecular analysis identified potential interactions between Cry1Ac and specific receptors, suggesting that particular amino acids enhance the toxin's effectiveness, which could inform the development of genetically modified sugarcane resistant to this pest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cotton is the most important crop for fiber production worldwide. However, the cotton boll weevil (CBW) is an insect pest that causes significant economic losses in infested areas. Current control methods are costly, inefficient, and environmentally hazardous.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The GmEXPA1 gene in soybeans, when overexpressed, enhances root lignification, decreasing susceptibility to the root-knot nematode M. incognita.
  • Studies indicate that specific expansin gene expression can influence plant resistance to parasitic nematodes, with GmEXPA1 showing increased expression in a resistant soybean genotype compared to a susceptible one.
  • Transgenic lines of Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana tabacum with overexpressed GmEXPA1 exhibited reduced susceptibility to M. incognita without negatively impacting plant growth or yield, suggesting its potential as a biotechnological tool for managing root-knot nematodes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The root-knot nematode (RKN), , is a devastating soybean pathogen worldwide. The use of resistant cultivars is the most effective method to prevent economic losses caused by RKNs. To elucidate the mechanisms involved in resistance to RKN, we determined the proteome and transcriptome profiles from roots of susceptible (BRS133) and highly tolerant (PI 595099) genotypes 4, 12, and 30 days after RKN infestation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The overexpression of the GmGlb1-1 gene reduces plant susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita. Non-symbiotic globin class #1 (Glb1) genes are expressed in different plant organs, have a high affinity for oxygen, and are related to nitric oxide (NO) turnover. Previous studies showed that soybean Glb1 genes are upregulated in soybean plants under flooding conditions.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The pUceS8.3 is a constitutive gene promoter with potential for ectopic and strong genes overexpression or active biomolecules in plant tissues attacked by pests, including nematode-induced giant cells or galls. Soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most important agricultural commodities worldwide and a major protein and oil source.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The efficiency of RNAi technology in insects varies considerably, particularly in lepidopterans. An important limiting factor of RNAi-mediated gene silencing is the degradation of dsRNA by insect nucleases before cellular uptake. To date, few studies have reported effective gene knockdown in the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Unlabelled: L. represents the best cotton species for fiber production, thus computing the largest cultivated area worldwide. is a root-knot nematode (RKN) and one of the most important species of genus, which has a wide host range, including cotton plants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • pGhERF105 and pGhNc-HARBI1 promoters show strong responsiveness to CBW infestation, making them valuable for genetically modified (GM) cotton aimed at pest control.
  • The study identifies the GhERF105 and GhNc-HARBI1 genes, which were found to be highly active during CBW infestation in cotton, suggesting their utility for developing pest-resistant crops.
  • The characterized promoters outperform traditional viral promoters like pCaMV35S, indicating higher potential for driving insecticidal genes specifically in cotton's reproductive tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Meloidogyne incognita is the most economically important species of the root-knot nematode complex causing damage to several crops worldwide. During parasitism in host plants, M. incognita secretes several effector proteins to suppress the plant immune system, manipulate the plant cell cycle, and promote parasitism.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) is a legume of great economic importance, however it is highly affected by nematodes. The present work aimed to identify proteins and genes involved in nematode resistance by proteomic and transcriptomic analysis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Minc03328 effector gene downregulation triggered by in planta RNAi strategy strongly reduced plant susceptibility to Meloidogyne incognita and suggests that Minc03328 gene is a promising target for the development of genetically engineered crops to improve plant tolerance to M. incognita. Meloidogyne incognita is the most economically important species of root-knot nematodes (RKN) and causes severe damage to crops worldwide.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Host-derived suppression of nematode essential genes decreases reproduction of Meloidogyne incognita in cotton. Root-knot nematodes (RKN) represent one of the most damaging plant-parasitic nematode genera worldwide. RNAi-mediated suppression of essential nematode genes provides a novel biotechnological strategy for the development of sustainable pest-control methods.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF