Hugo Germain

• Ph.D.
• Lab head at University of Quebec at Trois-Rivieres

Main conclusion This review article explores the intricate role, and regulation of ribosomal protein in response to stress, particularly emphasizing their pivotal role to ameliorate abiotic and biotic stress conditions in crop plants. Abstract Plants must coordinate ribosomes production to balance cellular protein synthesis in response to environm...

Plants interact with microorganisms that can cause diseases and reduce crop productivity. The fungal pathogen Melampsora larici-populina (Mlp) causes the leaf rust disease of poplar trees by secreting proteins, termed effectors, into host tissues to promote pathogenesis. In this study, we functionally characterized two homologous Mlp candidate secr...

Vitamin A deficiency is a major public health problem affecting up to 50% of the world's population, as either wheat or rice, which are poor in many essential micronutrients such as vitamin A, are major staple food crops. Biofortification of cereal crops with β-carotene (provitamin A) through genetic engineering is a potential solution to overcome...

Amaryllidaceae alkaloids (AAs) are diverse bioactive metabolites with significant pharmaceutical potential, derived from 4´-O-methylnorbelladine (4´OM). The biosynthesis of these compounds involves the condensation of tyramine and 3,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde by norbelladine synthase (NBS) and/or noroxomaritidine/norcraugsodine reductase (NR), followe...

Key message The heat stress transcription factor HSFA2e regulates both temperature and drought response via hormonal and secondary metabolism alterations. Abstract High temperature and drought are the primary yield-limiting environmental constraints for staple food crops. Heat shock transcription factors (HSF) terminally regulate the plant abiotic...

The poplar rust fungus Melampsora larici-populina is part of one of the most devastating group of fungi (Pucciniales) and causes important economic losses to the poplar industry. Because M. larici-populina is a heteroecious obligate biotroph, its spread depends on its ability to carry out its reproductive cycle through larch and then poplar parasit...

Adverse impacts of climate change, including high temperature on cereal crop production, have been evidenced globally. In plants, heat shock factors (HSFs) are crucial components of heat stress associated rescue mechanisms and are also required for normal biological processes. Here, we functionally characterized a highly heat stress responsive HvHS...

Nucleopore Complexes are intricate protein assemblies composed of diverse nucleoporins, which serve as crucial mediators for the bidirectional movement of molecules between the nucleus and cytosol. These nucleoporins share both structural and functional characteristics across yeast, mammals, and plants. This review highlights these shared architect...

The use of protoplasts in plant biology has become a convenient tool for the application of transient gene expression. This model system has allowed the study of plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, protein location and trafficking, cell wall dynamics, and single-cell transcriptomics, among others. Although well-established protocols for...

Upon exposure to biotic and abiotic stress, plants have developed strategies to adapt to the challenges imposed by these unfavorable conditions. The energetically demanding translation process is one of the main elements regulated to reduce energy consumption and to selectively synthesize proteins involved in the establishment of an adequate respon...

Plants have developed strategies to deal with the great variety of challenges they are exposed to. Among them, common targets are the regulation of transcription and translation to finely modulate protein levels during both biotic and abiotic stresses. Increasing evidence suggests that ribosomes are highly adaptable modular supramolecular structure...

Under field conditions, plants are often simultaneously exposed to several abiotic and biotic stresses resulting in significant reductions in growth and yield; thus, developing a multi‐stress tolerant variety is imperative. Previously, we reported the neofunctionalization of a novel PNP family protein, Putranjiva roxburghii purine nucleoside phosph...

Existence of potent in vitro regeneration system is a prerequisite for efficient genetic transformation and functional genomics of crop plants. We know little about why only some cultivars in crop plants are tissue culture friendly. In this study, tissue culture friendly cultivar Golden Promise (GP) and tissue culture resistant DWRB91(D91) were sel...

Plants have developed strategies to deal with the great variety of challenges they are exposed to. Among them, common targets are the regulation of transcription and translation to finely modulate protein levels during both biotic and abiotic stresses. Increasing evidence suggests that ribosomes are highly adaptable modular supramolecular structure...

Bacterial contamination of drinking water is becoming a major issue for increasing populations around the world. Current water treatment technologies based on chlorination are effective but generate toxic disinfection by-products. In this study, antibacterial electrospun chitosan-PEO/TEMPO-oxidized cellulose composite was tested for the first time...

Melampsora larici-populina (Mlp) is a devastating pathogen of poplar trees, causing the defoliating poplar leaf rust disease. Genomic studies have revealed that Mlp possesses a repertoire of 1184 small secreted proteins (SSPs), some of them being characterized as candidate effectors. However, how they promote virulence is still unclear. This study...

Rust fungi cause epidemics that threaten the production of important plant species, such as wheat and soy. Melampsora larici-populina (Mlp) causes the poplar rust and encodes at least 1184 candidate effectors (CEs) whose functions are poorly known. In this study, we sequenced the tran-scriptome and used mass spectrometry to analyze the metabolome o...

The benefits of the complex microscopic and industrially important group of microalgae such as diatoms is not hidden and have lately surprised the scientific community with their industrial potential. The ability to survive in harsh conditions and the presence of different pore structures and defined cell walls have made diatoms ideal cell machiner...

Several countries have undertaken social distancing measures to stop SARS-CoV-2’ spread. Asymptomatic carriers’ prevalence is unknown and would provide essential information on hidden viral circulation. In our cross-sectional study, 1.82% of 330 asymptomatic confined individuals living in the community carried SARS-CoV-2 despite no contact with dec...

Abiotic and biotic stresses induce the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which subsequently causes the excessive accumulation of aldehydes in cells. Stress-derived aldehydes are commonly designated as reactive electrophile species (RES) as a result of the presence of an electrophilic α, β-unsaturated carbonyl group. Aldehyde dehydrogenase...

Rust fungi are plant pathogens that cause epidemics that threaten the production of important plant species, such as wheat, soy, coffee and poplar. Melampsora larici-populina ( Mlp ) causes the poplar rust and encodes at least 1 184 candidate effectors (CEs), however their functions are poorly known. In this study, we used Arabidopsis plants consti...

In commercial settings, cannabis is generally propagated through cuttings, a process referred in the industry as cloning. Some producers perform either topping or fimming to trigger the production of axillary shoots, which will enhance the number of flowers per plants and thus increase the yield of the cannabis plants. Topping or fimming is general...

Main conclusion: Overexpressing a heat shock factor gene (TaHsfA6bT) from wheat provides thermotolerance in barley by constitutive expression of heat and other abiotic stress-response genes. Temperature is one of the most crucial abiotic factors defining the yield potential of temperate cereal crops, such as barley. The regulators of heat shock re...

Melampsora larici-populina (Mlp), the causal agent of Populus leaf rust, secretes an array of effectors into the host through the haustorium to gain nutrients and suppress immunity. The precise mechanisms by which these effectors promote virulence remain unclear. To address this question, we developed a transgenic Arabidopsis line expressing a cand...

Microalgae biotechnologies are rapidly developing into new commercial settings. Several high value products already exist on the market, and biotechnological development is focused on genetic engineering of microalgae to open up future economic opportunities for food, fuel and pharmacological production. Colony-polymerase chain reaction (colony-PCR...

Armillaria sinapina, a fungal pathogen of primary timber species of North American forests, causes white root rot disease that ultimately kills the trees. A more detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying this illness will support future developments on disease resistance and management, as well as in the decomposition of cellulo...

Rapid and reliable screening of SARS-CoV-2 is fundamental to assess viral spread and limit the pandemic we are facing. In this study we evaluated the reliability and the efficiency of a direct RT-QPCR method (without RNA extraction) using SeeGene Allplex™ 2019-nCoV RT-QPCR and the influence of swab storage media composition on further viral detecti...

Marine water diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum is a photosynthetic organism that is known to respond to the changing light environment and adapt to different temperatures to prevent photoinhibition and maintain its metabolic functions. The objective of the present study was to test whether light shift variations in different growth phases impact the...

In plant-pathogen interactions, expression and localization of effectors in the aqueous apoplastic region play a crucial role in the establishment or suppression of pathogen development. Silicon (Si) has been shown to protect plants in several host-pathogen interactions but its mode of action remains a source of debate. Its deposition in the apopla...

Boreal forests provide important ecosystem services, most notably being the mitigation of increasing atmospheric CO2 emissions. Microbial biodiversity, particularly the local diversity of fungi, has been shown to promote multiple functions of the boreal forests of Northeastern China. However, this microbial biodiversity-multifunctionality relations...

Background: RNA sequencing allows the measuring of gene expression at a resolution unmet by expression arrays or RT-qPCR. It is however necessary to normalize sequencing data by library size, transcript size and composition, among other factors, before comparing expression levels. The use of internal control genes or spike-ins is advocated in the...

Background : RNA sequencing allows the measuring of gene expression at a resolution unmet by expression arrays or RT-qPCR. It is however necessary to normalize sequencing data by library size, transcript size and composition, among other factors, before comparing expression levels. The use of internal control genes or spike-ins is advocated in the...

Fungi play important roles in forest ecosystems and understanding fungal diversity is crucial to address essential questions about species conservation and ecosystems management. Changes in fungal diversity can have severe impacts on ecosystem functionality. Unfortunately, little is known about fungal diversity in northern temperate and boreal fore...

Key message Short review focussing on the role and targeting of vacuolar substructure in plant immunity and pathogenesis. Abstract Plants lack specialized immune cells, therefore each plant cell must defend itself against invading pathogens. A typical plant defense strategy is the hypersensitive response that results in host cell death at the site...

Background: RNA sequencing allows the measuring of gene expression at a resolution unmet by expression arrays or RT-qPCR. It is however necessary to normalize sequencing data by library size, transcript size and composition, among other factors, before comparing expression levels. The use of internal control genes or spike-ins is advocated in the l...

Chaga (Inonotus obliquus) is a medicinal fungus used in traditional medicine of Native American and North Eurasian cultures. Several studies have demonstrated the medicinal properties of chaga’s bioactive molecules. For example, several terpenoids (e.g., betulin, betulinic acid and inotodiol) isolated from I. obliquus cells have proven effectivenes...

Background: RNA sequencing allows the measuring of gene expression at a resolution unmet by expression arrays or RT-qPCR. It is however necessary to normalize sequencing data by library size, transcript size and composition, among other factors, before comparing expression levels. The use of internal control genes or spike-ins is advocated in the l...

L’étude du sol est un élément important pour répondre à plusieurs questions dans le domaine de l’écologie et de l’agriculture. L’une des mesures les plus couramment utilisées pour étudier les sols est sans doute la mesure du potentiel hydrogène (pH) qui est une mesure de l’activité des protons dans le sol. On entend toutefois peu parler de la mesur...

Rust fungi (Pucciniales) are the largest group of plant pathogens and represent one of the most devastating threats to agricultural crops worldwide. Despite the economic importance of these highly specialized pathogens, many aspects of their biology remain obscure, largely because rust fungi are obligate biotrophs. The rise of genomics and advances...

The basidiomycete Melampsora larici-populina causes poplar rust disease by invading leaf tissues and secreting effector proteins through specialized infection structures known as haustoria. The mechanisms by which rust effectors promote pathogen virulence are poorly understood. The present study characterized Mlp124478, a candidate effector of M. l...

Infection of plant cells by RNA viruses leads to the generation of organelle-like subcellular structures that contain the viral replication complex. During Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) infection of Nicotiana benthamiana, the viral membrane protein 6K2 plays a key role in the release of motile replication vesicles from the host endoplasmic reticulum (...

Plant vacuoles are multifunctional organelles with dynamic and transient membranous structures, such as trans-vacuolar strands and bulbs. Bulbs are highly mobile structures that travel along trans-vacuolar strands. A candidate effector protein from Melampsora larici-populina (Mlp124357) fused with the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) was u...

Ecosystem productivity is partly determined by organic matter recycling efficiency. To estimate recycling, enzymatic activity can be quantified for enzymes catalyzing terminal reactions producing bioavailable nutrients for plants [1]. This study aims to better understand (1) how ecosystems habitat variables regulate enzymatic activities within carb...

Lobster mushroom is a wild edible mushroom with potential commercial value. It is the product resulting of the infection, most commonly of Russula brevipes by Hypomyces lactifluorum. This study undertook quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis of tissues sampled at different infection stages, to investigate R. brevipes/H. lactifluorum inter...

Fungi of the Pucciniales order cause rust diseases, which altogether affect thousands of plant species worldwide and pose major threat to several crops. How rust effectors - virulence proteins delivered into infected tissues to modulate host functions - contribute to pathogen virulence remains poorly understood. Melampsora larici-populina is a deva...

The ectomycorrhizal symbiosis is a predominant tree-microbe interaction in forest ecosystems sustaining tree growth and health. Its establishment and functioning implies a long-term and intimate relationship between the soil-borne fungi and the roots of trees. Mycorrhiza-induced Small Secreted Proteins (MiSSPs) are hypothesized as keystone symbioti...

Quantitative PCR (qPCR) has become the gold standard technique to measure cDNA and gDNA levels but the resulting data can be highly variable, artifactual and non-reproducible without appropriate verification and validation of both samples and primers. The root cause of poor quality data is typically associated with inadequate dilution of residual p...

Microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP)-triggered immunity (MTI) is the first layer of molecular defense encountered by pathogens. Genetic screens have contributed to our knowledge of MTI, but are limited to phenotype-causing mutations. Here we attempt to identify novel factors involved in the early event leading to plant MTI by comparing the n...

Full material and method for the pape4r Fakih et al 2016 which had to be removed due to space constraint in the Online publication of the manuscrpt.

Plant cells secrete a wide range of proteins in extracellular spaces in response to pathogen attack. The poplar rust-induced secreted protein (RISP) is a small cationic protein of unknown function that was identified as the most induced gene in poplar leaves during immune responses to the leaf rust pathogen Melampsora larici-populina, an obligate b...

Melampsora larici-populina (Mlp) is a parasitic fungus causing poplar leaf rust, a disease that threatens poplar plantations worldwide. Like other phytopathogens, Mlp translocates specialized proteins, called effectors, into host tissues and cells to eventually divert host resources. 124202 is a hypothetical Mlp effector selected through an in sili...

In both animals and plants, mRNA export has been shown to contribute to immune response regulation. The Arabidopsis nuclear protein MOS11 along with the nucleoporins MOS3/Nup96/SAR3 and Nup160/SAR1 are components of the mRNA export machinery and contribute to immunity mediated by nucleotide binding leucine-rich repeat immune receptors (NLRs). The h...

Mushroom picking is a source of income, but it can be difficult and unprofitable. Mushroom pickers have to possess knowledge about the ecology, morphology, and life cycle of the mushrooms to assess where and when it can be found. Likewise, fruiting in mushrooms appears at specific times during their development when conditions are optimal. In some...

Several obligate biotrophic phytopathogens, namely oomycetes and fungi, invade and feed on living plant cells through specialized structures known as haustoria. Deploying an arsenal of secreted proteins called effectors, these pathogens balance their parasitic propagation by subverting plant immunity without sacrificing host cells. Such secreted pr...

Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. has emerged as the dominant plant species used in molecular genetics and functional genomics. Although it possesses several attributes of model organisms, the ease with which it can be transformed genetically is a paramount factor that has led to its widespread application as a tool for functional genomics. Progress...

The Canadian National DNA Database was created in 1998 and first used in the mid-2000. Under management by the RCMP, the National DNA Data Bank of Canada offers each year satisfactory reported statistics for its use and efficiency. Built on two indexes (convicted offenders and crime scene indexes), the database not only provides increasing matches...

Using a subtraction screen to isolate weakly expressed transcripts from ovule and ovary libraries, we uncovered 30 receptor-like kinases that were predominantly expressed in ovary and fruit tissues following fertilization [1]. Here we describe the analysis of Solanum chacoense ovule receptor kinase 11 (ScORK11), a member of the large LRR III recept...

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Newbler v. 2010; Trinity v. 2012 Sequencing Technology :: 454; Illumina ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Newbler v. 2010; Trinity v. 2012 Sequencing Technology :: 454; Illumina ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Newbler v. 2010; Trinity v. 2012 Sequencing Technology :: 454; Illumina ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Newbler v. 2010; Trinity v. 2012 Sequencing Technology :: 454; Illumina ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Newbler v. 2010; Trinity v. 2012 Sequencing Technology :: 454; Illumina ##Assembly-Data-END##

##Assembly-Data-START## Assembly Method :: Newbler v. 2010; Trinity v. 2012 Sequencing Technology :: 454; Illumina ##Assembly-Data-END##

After mRNA biogenesis, several proteins interact with the messenger to ensure its proper export to the cytoplasm. Some of these proteins will bind RNA early on, at the onset of transcription by RNA polymerase II holoenzyme, while others will join later for downstream processing steps, such as poly-adenylation or splicing, or may direct mRNA ribonuc...

##Assembly-Data-START## Sequencing Technology :: Sanger dideoxy sequencing ##Assembly-Data-END##

A 1149 bp genomic fragment corresponding to the 5' non-coding region of the PgD1 (Picea glauca Defensin 1) gene was cloned, characterized, and compared with all Arabidopsis thaliana defensin promoters. The cloned fragment was found to contain several motifs specific to defence or hormonal response, including a motif involved in the methyl jasmonate...

Amino acid sequence alignment of MOS11 and its homologs in human, mice, rice, corn, poplar, and grape vine. Identical amino acids are shaded dark and similar amino acids are shaded light. Asterisks indicate highly conserved positively charged residues. (1.38 MB TIF)

Quantification of the amount of fluorescent signal in the nucleus of the genotypes described in Figure 4C and Figure 5E, reflecting the relative amount of mRNAs. (0.11 MB TIF)

Growth of P.s.t. DC3000 carrying respective Avr effectors in 5-week-old plants. The infection was carried out as in Figure 1F. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. Different letters indicate statistically significant differences (p-value <0.00001). (0.26 MB TIF)

Nucleocytoplasmic trafficking is emerging as an important aspect of plant immunity. The three related pathways affecting plant immunity include Nuclear Localization Signal (NLS)-mediated nuclear protein import, Nuclear Export Signal (NES)-dependent nuclear protein export, and mRNA export relying on MOS3, a nucleoporin belonging to the Nup107-160 co...

The perennial plant model species Populus trichocarpa has received considerable attention in the last 5 yr because of its potential use as a bioenergy crop. The completion of its genome sequence revealed extensive homologies with the herbaceous annual species Arabidopsis thaliana. This review highlights the similarities and differences at the quali...

Controlled nucleocytoplasmic trafficking is an important feature for fine-tuning signaling pathways in eukaryotic organisms. Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) composed of nucleoporin proteins (Nups) are essential for the exchange of macromolecules across the nuclear envelope. A recent genetic screen in our laboratory identified a partial loss-of-functi...

Specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers were developed for the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the rDNA gene of Inonotus tomentosus, the causal agent of tomentosus root rot of conifers. The primers were designed to specifically amplify DNA from I. tomentosus and allow its differentiation from Inonotus leporinus and from Phellin...

Plants have evolved sophisticated defence mechanisms against pathogen infection, during which Resistance (R) proteins play a central role in recognizing pathogens and initiating downstream defence cascades. In Arabidopsis, the dominant mutant snc1 was previously identified that constitutively expresses Pathogenesis-Related(PR) genes and displays en...

The basidiomycetous fungus Onnia tomentosa is one of the most widespread root rot pathogens in North America. Although the disease is more severe on spruce and pine trees, this pathogen can infect several coniferous species. To study the population structure of O. tomentosa, we harvested 180 basidiocarps in a 45-year-old white spruce plantation in...

Plant immune responses depend on dynamic signaling events across the nuclear envelope through nuclear pores. Nuclear accumulation of certain resistance (R) proteins and downstream signal transducers are critical for their functions, but it is not understood how these processes are controlled. Here, we report the identification, cloning, and analysi...

Pathogen/microbe-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs/MAMPs) trigger plant immunity that forms the first line inducible defenses in plants. The regulatory mechanism of MAMP-triggered immunity, however, is poorly understood. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana transcription factors ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3 (EIN3) and ETHYLENE INSENSITIVE3-LIKE1 (EI...