Data mining with iPlant: a meeting report from the 2013 GARNet workshop, Data mining with iPlant.

High-throughput sequencing technologies have rapidly moved from large international sequencing centres to individual laboratory benchtops. These changes have driven the 'data deluge' of modern biology. Submissions of nucleotide sequences to GenBank, for example, have doubled in size every year since 1982, and individual data sets now frequently reach terabytes in size. While 'big data' present exciting opportunities for scientific discovery, data analysis skills are not part of the typical wet bench biologist's experience. Knowing what to do with data, how to visualize and analyse them, make predictions, and test hypotheses are important barriers to success. Many researchers also lack adequate capacity to store and share these data, creating further bottlenecks to effective collaboration between groups and institutes. The US National Science Foundation-funded iPlant Collaborative was established in 2008 to form part of the data collection and analysis pipeline and help alleviate the bottlenecks associated with the big data challenge in plant science. Leveraging the power of high-performance computing facilities, iPlant provides free-to-use cyberinfrastructure to enable terabytes of data storage, improve analysis, and facilitate collaborations. To help train UK plant science researchers to use the iPlant platform and understand how it can be exploited to further research, GARNet organized a four-day Data mining with iPlant workshop at Warwick University in September 2013. This report provides an overview of the workshop, and highlights the power of the iPlant environment for lowering barriers to using complex bioinformatics resources, furthering discoveries in plant science research and providing a platform for education and outreach programmes.

Opportunities in plant synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology is an emerging field uniting scientists from all disciplines with the aim of designing or re-designing biological processes. Initially, synthetic biology breakthroughs came from microbiology, chemistry, physics, computer science, materials science, mathematics, and engineering disciplines. A transition to multicellular systems is the next logical step for synthetic biologists and plants will provide an ideal platform for this new phase of research. This meeting report highlights some of the exciting plant synthetic biology projects, and tools and resources, presented and discussed at the 2013 GARNet workshop on plant synthetic biology.

Making open data work for plant scientists.

Despite the clear demand for open data sharing, its implementation within plant science is still limited. This is, at least in part, because open data-sharing raises several unanswered questions and challenges to current research practices. In this commentary, some of the challenges encountered by plant researchers at the bench when generating, interpreting, and attempting to disseminate their data have been highlighted. The difficulties involved in sharing sequencing, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics data are reviewed. The benefits and drawbacks of three data-sharing venues currently available to plant scientists are identified and assessed: (i) journal publication; (ii) university repositories; and (iii) community and project-specific databases. It is concluded that community and project-specific databases are the most useful to researchers interested in effective data sharing, since these databases are explicitly created to meet the researchers' needs, support extensive curation, and embody a heightened awareness of what it takes to make data reuseable by others. Such bottom-up and community-driven approaches need to be valued by the research community, supported by publishers, and provided with long-term sustainable support by funding bodies and government. At the same time, these databases need to be linked to generic databases where possible, in order to be discoverable to the majority of researchers and thus promote effective and efficient data sharing. As we look forward to a future that embraces open access to data and publications, it is essential that data policies, data curation, data integration, data infrastructure, and data funding are linked together so as to foster data access and research productivity.

Transcriptional changes related to secondary wall formation in xylem of transgenic lines of tobacco altered for lignin or xylan content which show improved saccharification.

In this study, an EST library (EH663598-EH666265) obtained from xylogenic tissue cultures of tobacco that had been previously generated was annotated. The library proved to be enriched in transcripts related to the synthesis and modification of secondary cell walls. The xylem-specific transcripts for most of the genes of the lignification and xylan pathways were identified and several full-length sequences obtained. Gene expression was determined in available tobacco lines down-regulated for enzymes of the phenylpropanoid pathway: CINNAMATE 4-HYDROXYLASE (sc4h), CINNAMOYL-COA REDUCTASE (asccr) and lignification-specific peroxidase (asprx). In addition, lines down-regulated in the nucleotide-sugar pathway to xylan formation through antisense expression of UDP-GLUCURONIC ACID DECARBOXYLASE (asuxs) were also analysed. It is shown herein that most transcripts were down-regulated for both lignin and xylan synthesis pathways in these lines, while CELLULOSE SYNTHASE A3 was up-regulated in lignin-modified lines. The analysis indicates the existence of interdependence between lignin and xylan pathways at the transcriptional level and also shows that levels of cellulose, xylan and lignin are not necessarily directly correlated to differences in transcription of the genes involved upstream, as shown by cell wall fractionation and sugar analysis. It is therefore suggested that cell wall biosynthesis regulation occurs at different levels, and not merely at the transcriptional level. In addition, all lines analyzed showed improved enzymic saccharification of secondary but not primary walls. Nevertheless, this demonstrates potential industrial applicability for the approach undertaken to improve biomass utility.

Fuel from plant cell walls: recent developments in second generation bioethanol research.

As bioethanol from sugarcane and wheat falls out of favour due to concerns about food security, research is ongoing into genetically engineering model plants and microorganisms to find the optimum cell wall structure for the ultimate second generation bioethanol crop. Charis Cook and Alessandra Devoto highlight here the progress made to tailor the plant cell wall to improve the accessibility of cellulose by acting on the regulation, the structure or the relative composition of other cell wall components to ultimately improve saccharification efficiency. They also consider possible side effects of cell wall modification and focus on the latest advances made to improve the efficiency of digestion of lignocellulosic materials by cell wall degrading microorganisms.

Consequences of antisense down-regulation of a lignification-specific peroxidase on leaf and vascular tissue in tobacco lines demonstrating enhanced enzymic saccharification.

Tobacco plants expressing an antisense construct for a cationic peroxidase, which down-regulated lignin content at the presumed level of polymerisation, have been further analysed. T(1) plants were derived from a large-scale screen of T(0) mutant lines, previously published, which identified lines demonstrating consistent lignin down-regulation. Of these, line 1074 which had the most robust changes in lignin distribution through several generations was shown to have accompanying down-regulation of transcription of most lignin biosynthesis genes, except cinnamoyl-CoA reductase. The consistent 20% reduction in lignin was not accompanied by significant gross changes in vascular polysaccharide content and composition, despite a modest up-regulation of transcripts of genes involved in cellulose and hemicellulose synthesis. Morphologically, 1074 plants have under-developed xylem with both fibers and vessels having thin cell walls and limited secondary wall thickening with an abnormal S2 layer. However, they were not compromised in overall growth. Nevertheless, these and other lines showed improved potential industrial utility through a threefold increase in enzymic saccharification efficiency compared with wild-type (wt). Therefore, they were profiled for further un-intended effects of transgenesis that might compromise their value for industrial or biofuel processes. Other phenotypic changes included increased leaf thickness and bifurcation at the tip of the leaf. wt-Plants had smaller chloroplasts and higher stomatal numbers than mutants. Transgenic lines also showed a variable leaf pigment distribution with light-green areas that contained measurably less chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids. Changes in epidermal pavement cells of mutant lines were also observed after exposure to various chemicals, while wt leaves retained their structural integrity. Despite these changes, the mutant plants grew and were viable indicating that lignification patterns can be manipulated considerably through targeting polymerisation without serious deleterious effects.