Mario Arteaga-Vazquez

Universidad Veracruzana | UV · Instituto de Biotecnología y Ecología Aplicada (INBIOTECA)

The formation of an organized body requires the establishment and maintenance of cells with structural and functional distinctive characteristics. A central question in developmental biology is how changes in the regulation of genes drive cell specification and patterning1. microRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that regulate development thro...

Main Conclusion Our study presents evidence for a novel mechanism for RBR function in transcriptional gene silencing by interacting with key players of the RdDM pathway in Arabidopsis and several plant clades. Abstract Transposable elements and other repetitive elements are silenced by the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway (RdDM). In RdDM, POLI...

Dragon fruit, pitahaya or pitaya are common names for the species in the Hylocereus group of Selenicereus that produce edible fruit. These Neotropical epiphytic cacti are considered promising underutilized crops and are currently cultivated around the world. The most important species, S. undatus , has been managed in the Maya domain for centuries...

The use of phylogenies to study the geographic origin and traceability of infections caused by outbreaks of diseases has increased. However, the use of these phylogenetic tools is limited by the information available, as well as the results obtained by phylogenies. As an example, we analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 genomes available in GenBank up to August...

Although paramutation has been well-studied at a few hallmark loci involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis in maize, the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the phenomenon remain largely unknown. Previously described actors of paramutation encode components of the RNA-directed DNA-methylation (RdDM) pathway that participate in the biogenesis...

The liverwort Marchantia polymorpha has been utilized as a model for biological studies since the 18th century. In the past few decades there has been a Renaissance in its utilization in genomic and genetic approaches to investigating physiological, developmental, and evolutionary aspects of land plant biology. The reasons for its adoption are simi...

High-throughput phenotyping (HTP) allows automation of fast and precise acquisition and analysis of digital images for the detection of key traits in real time. HTP improves characterization of the growth and development of plants in controlled environments in a nondestructive fashion. Marchantia polymorpha has emerged as a very attractive model fo...

Transposable elements and other repetitive elements are silenced by the RNA-directed DNA methylation pathway (RdDM). In RdDM, POLIV-derived transcripts are converted into double stranded RNA (dsRNA) by the activity of RDR2 and subsequently processed into 24 nucleotide short interfering RNAs (24-nt siRNAs) by DCL3. 24-nt siRNAs are recruited by AGO4...

Trichoderma atroviride is a root colonizer fungus that confers multiple benefits to plants. In plants, small RNA (sRNA)-mediated gene silencing (sRNA-MGS) plays pivotal roles in growth, development, and pathogen attack. Here, we explored the role of core components of Arabidopsis thaliana sRNA-MGS pathways during its interaction with Trichoderma. U...

Mating has profound physiological and behavioral consequences for female insects. During copulation, female insects typically receive not only sperm, but a complex ejaculate containing hundreds of proteins and other molecules from male reproductive tissues, primarily the reproductive accessory glands. The post-mating phenotypes affected by male acc...

Paramutation is an exception among eukaryotes, in which epigenetic information is conserved through mitosis and meiosis. It has been studied for over 70 years in maize, but the mechanisms involved are largely unknown. Previously described actors of paramutation encode components of the RNA-dependent DNA-methylation (RdDM) pathway all involved in th...

Plant hormones are master regulators of developmental and genetic mechanisms to deal with diverse environmental cues. Upon phosphate (Pi) limitation, vascular plants modify phytohormone metabolism to coordinate diverse mechanisms to overcome such stress. However, the transcriptional program underlying the hormonal signaling in response to Pi scarci...

Phosphate (Pi) is a pivotal nutrient that constraints plant development and productivity in natural ecosystems. Land colonization by plants, more than 470 million years ago, evolved adaptive mechanisms to conquer Pi-scarce environments. However, little is known about the molecular basis underlying such adaptations at early branches of plant phyloge...

Anammox is a cost‐effective and sustainable process for nitrogen removal; however, the production of a physiologically stable inoculum is a critical point in the start‐up process. In this work, estuarine sediments were used as incubation seeds to obtain cultures with stable anammox activity. Assays were performed in batch cultures fed with stoichio...

Phosphate (Pi) is a pivotal nutrient that constraints plant development and productivity in natural ecosystems. Land colonization by plants, more than 470 million years ago, evolved adaptive mechanisms to conquer Pi-scarce environments. However, little is known about the molecular basis underlying such adaptations at early branches of plant phyloge...

Anastrepha ludens is a major pest of fruits including citrus and mangoes in Mexico and Central America with major economic and social impacts. Despite its importance, our knowledge on its embryonic development is scarce. Here, we report the first cytological study of embryonic development in A. ludens and provide a transcriptional landscape during...

Myo‐inositol oxygenase (MIOX) is the first enzyme in the inositol route to ascorbate (L‐ascorbic acid, AsA, vitamin C). We have previously shown that Arabidopsis plants constitutively expressing MIOX have elevated foliar AsA content and displayed enhanced growth rate, biomass accumulation, and increased tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses. In th...

Reprogramming of epigenetic information has been described in both plants and mammals. Paramutation is a rare exception where reprogramming is both mitotically and meiotically stable over many generations. At the booster1 gene (b1) in Zea mays, the weakly expressed BOOSTER’ (B’) allele stably decreases the expression of the BOOSTER-INTENSE (B-I) al...

Methylation of DNA is an epigenetic mechanism for the control of gene expression. Alterations in the regulatory pathways involved in the establishment, perpetuation and removal of DNA methylation can lead to severe developmental alterations. Our understanding of the mechanistic aspects and relevance of DNA methylation comes from remarkable studies...

Myo-inositol oxygenase (MIOX) is the first enzyme in the inositol route to ascorbate (L-ascorbic acid, AsA, vitamin C). We have previously shown that Arabidopsis plants constitutively expressing MIOX have elevated foliar AsA content and displayed enhanced growth rate, biomass accumulation, and increased tolerance to multiple abiotic stresses. In th...

Microbiomes influence plant establishment, development, nutrient acquisition, pathogen defense, and health. Plant microbiomes are shaped by interactions between the microbes and a selection process of host plants that distinguishes between pathogens, commensals, symbionts and transient bacteria. In this work, we explore the microbiomes through mass...

Microbiomes influence plant establishment, development, nutrient acquisition, pathogen defense, and health. Plant microbiomes are shaped by interactions between the microbes and a selection process of host plants that distinguishes between pathogens, commensals, symbionts and transient bacteria. In this work, we explore the microbiomes through mass...

ELife digest Plants colonised the land sometime more than 500 million years ago. The ancestors of the first land plants were algae that were most likely simple with a few different types of cell. Yet, when faced with the challenges of life on land, plants evolved new cell types and specialised structures with roles such as anchorage, nutrient uptak...

5'RLM-RACE PCR band sequences

MpFRH1 transcript sequence

Multiple sequence alignments of the predicted MpFRH1 miRNA target mRNAs in M. polymorpha and their orthologs from other liverworts. The predicted MpFRH1 target site is indicated with a grey arrow. Region around the predicted miRNA target site (top) and overview of the alignment (bottom). (A) Foie gras domain containing protein Mapoly0075s0041.1. (B...

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mark that ensures silencing of transposable elements (TEs) and affects gene expression in many organisms. The function of different DNA methylation regulatory pathways has been largely characterized in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. However, far less is known about DNA methylation regulation and functions in...

DNA methylation is an epigenetic mark that ensures silencing of transposable elements (TEs) and affects gene expression in many organisms. The function of different DNA methylation regulatory pathways has been largely characterized in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana . However, far less is known about DNA methylation regulation and functions in...

In plants, l-ascorbic acid (AsA) is a functional enzyme cofactor, a major antioxidant, and a modulator of several biological processes including photosynthesis, photo-protection, cell wall growth and expansion, tolerance to environmental stresses, and synthesis of other molecules. One of the major roles of AsA in plants is detoxifying reactive oxyg...

Plants' ability to respond to environmental stimuli and developmental cues depends upon changes in gene expression. In eukaryotes, genetic information encoded by DNA is packed in a highly regulated and dynamic nucleoprotein complex known as chromatin that is subject to epigenetic modifications. Historically, several biological phenomena relying on...

Plants' ability to respond to environmental stimuli and developmental cues depends upon changes in gene expression. In eukaryotes, genetic information encoded by DNA is packed in a highly regulated and dynamic nucleoprotein complex known as chromatin that is subject to epigenetic modifications. Historically, several biological phenomena relying on...

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) is the vertebrate model system with the highest regeneration capacity. Experimental tools established over the past 100 years have been fundamental to start unraveling the cellular and molecular basis of tissue and limb regeneration. In the absence of a reference genome for the Axolotl, transcriptomic analysis beco...

The evolution of land flora transformed the terrestrial environment. Land plants evolved from an ancestral charophycean alga from which they inherited developmental, biochemical, and cell biological attributes. Additional biochemical and physiological adaptations to land, and a life cycle with an alternation between multicellular haploid and diploi...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous non-coding RNAs that play important regulatory roles in animals and plants by targeting mRNAs for cleavage or transla‐ tional repression. Small RNAs are classified into different types by their biogenesis and mode of action, such as miRNAs, siRNAs, piRNAs, and snoRNAs. In the case of miRNAs, this specific type regu...

Our concept of cell reprogramming and cell plasticity has evolved since John Gurdon transferred the nucleus of a completely differentiated cell into an enucleated Xenopus laevis egg thereby generating embryos which developed into tadpoles. More recently, induced expression of transcription factors, oct4, sox2, klf4 and c-myc has evidenced the plast...

Bryophytes (liverworts, hornworts and mosses) comprise the three earliest diverging lineages of land plants (embryophytes). Marchantia polymorpha, a complex thalloid Marchantiopsida liverwort that has been developed into a model genetic system, occupies a key phylogenetic position. Therefore, M. polymorpha is useful in studies aiming to elucidate t...

miRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression in eukaryotes. They are involved in the control of many plant developmental processes, including fruit development. The information available on miRNAs, related to expression, abundance, and conservation in several species, provides a new opportunity to study the role of miRN...

The genetic and molecular basis of the developmental programs underlying adaptive morphological changes is largely unknown. A new study reveals an ancient gene that has been instrumental for the generation of morphological diversity and adaptation in land plants.

While Marchantia polymorpha has been utilized as a model system to investigate fundamental biological questions for over almost two centuries, there is renewed interest in M. polymorpha as a model genetic organism in the genomics era. Here we outline community guidelines for M. polymorpha gene and transgene nomenclature, and we anticipate that thes...

Small RNA-mediated chromatin modification is a conserved feature of eukaryotes. In flowering plants, the short interfering (si)RNAs that direct transcriptional silencing are abundant and subfunctionalization has led to specialized machinery responsible for synthesis and action of these small RNAs. In particular, plants possess Pol IV and Pol V, mul...

Author Summary In the plant Arabidposis thaliana, root meristems (in the growing tip of the root) contain slowly dividing cells that act as an organizing center for the root stem cells that surround them. This centre is called the quiescent centre (QC). In this study, we show that the slow rate of division in the QC is regulated by the interaction...

Paramutation is a well-studied epigenetic phenomenon in which trans communication between two different alleles leads to meiotically heritable transcriptional silencing of one of the alleles. Paramutation at the b1 locus involves RNA-mediated transcriptional silencing and requires specific tandem repeats that generate siRNAs. This study addressed t...

It has been argued that the evolution of plant genome size is principally unidirectional and increasing owing to the varied action of whole-genome duplications (WGDs) and mobile element proliferation. However, extreme genome size reductions have been reported in the angiosperm family tree. Here we report the sequence of the 82-megabase genome of th...

As sessile organisms, plants have to cope with the ever-changing environment as well as with numerous forms of stress. To react to these external cues, plants have evolved a suite of response mechanisms operating at many different levels, ranging from physiological to molecular processes that provide the organism with a wide phenotypic plasticity,...

The life cycle of flowering plants alternates between a predominant sporophytic (diploid) and an ephemeral gametophytic (haploid) generation that only occurs in reproductive organs. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the female gametophyte is deeply embedded within the ovule, complicating the study of the genetic and molecular interactions involved in the sp...

Paramutation is the epigenetic transfer of information between alleles that leads to the heritable change of expression of one allele. Paramutation at the b1 locus in maize requires seven noncoding tandem repeat (b1TR) sequences located approximately 100 kb upstream of the transcription start site of b1, and mutations in several genes required for...

In the ovules of most sexual flowering plants female gametogenesis is initiated from a single surviving gametic cell, the functional megaspore, formed after meiosis of the somatically derived megaspore mother cell (MMC). Because some mutants and certain sexual species exhibit more than one MMC, and many others are able to form gametes without meios...

Whether deposited maternal products are important during early seed development in flowering plants remains controversial. Here, we show that RNA interference-mediated downregulation of transcription is deleterious to endosperm development but does not block zygotic divisions. Furthermore, we show that RNA POLYMERASE II is less active in the embryo...

Paramutation involves trans-interactions between alleles or homologous sequences that establish distinct gene expression states that are heritable for generations. It was first described in maize by Alexander Brink in the 1950s, with his studies of the red1 (r1) locus. Since that time, paramutation-like phenomena have been reported in other maize g...

Information for DNA dependent RNA polymerase second-largest subunits used for phylogenetic analysis. (0.02 MB PDF)

Crossing schema for experiment to test effect of Mop2-1 on p1 paramutation. The paramutagenic P1-rr' allele has light patterned pericarp, while paramutable P1-rr has red pericarp pigment. The P1.2b::GUS transgene carried the highly paramutagenic P2P147-37 integration event [13]. To assay whether the Mop2-1 mutation would prevent p1 paramutation, pl...

Alignment of second largest subunits of RNA polymerases. Alignment was performed using MUSCLE, edited using GENEDOC, and shaded using BOXSHADE. Identical amino acids are shaded in black, while similar amino acids are shaded in gray. Conserved domains are underlined and indicated A though I [72]. The active site (metal B) is indicated by asterisks [...

Protein models of maize second largest subunits of Pol-I and Pol-II used for phylogenetic analysis. Protein sequences of the maize second largest subunits of Pol-I (ZmNRPA2) and Pol-II (ZmNRPB2a, ZmNRPB2b) were predicted using FGENESH+ (http://linux1.softberry.com/) software and the corresponding Arabidopsis proteins as guides. (0.04 MB DOC)

Genetic mapping of the Mop2-1 mutation using phenotypic markers linked to the b1 locus on chromosome 2S. Asterisk denotes the B-I that was protected from paramutation in Mop2-1/+ plants. Red bars indicate the interval in which recombination occured in the previous generation. In testcross 1, 12 out of 15 progeny plants inherited parental combinatio...

Crossing schema for the genetic test used to assay Mop2-1/+ effects on preventing b1 paramutation and relief of B' silencing. The B-I allele exposed to homozygous Mop2-1 is denoted by an asterisk. The red bar indicates the potential for recombination as the b1 and Mop2-1 loci are linked (27 cM). The B-Peru (B-P) allele of the b1 gene does not under...

Schematic drawing of genetic experiment that tests Mop2-1 effect on preventing r1 paramutation. Plants heterozygous for Mop2-1/+ and carrying R-st/r or R-r/r were crossed to produce F1 plants. Although r1 paramutation occurs in the F1, observation of paramutation requires a testcross to a colorless allele that does not participate in paramutation (...

Schematic drawing of genetic experiment that tests Mop2-1 effect on Ubi::MS45pIR and Ubi::5126pIR transgene induced silencing. pIR is used to symbolize the inverted repeat transgenes. Dark plant pigmentation specified by B' in Mop2-1/Mop2-1 plants was used to classify progeny. Molecular genotyping of a subset of plants revealed close correspondence...

Paramutation involves homologous sequence communication that leads to meiotically heritable transcriptional silencing. We demonstrate that mop2 (mediator of paramutation2), which alters paramutation at multiple loci, encodes a gene similar to Arabidopsis NRPD2/E2, the second-largest subunit of plant-specific RNA polymerases IV and V. In Arabidopsis...