title: Comparative analysis of the Arabidopsis pollen transcriptome.
abstract: We present a genome-wide view of the male gametophytic transcriptome in Arabidopsis based on microarray analysis. In comparison with the transcriptome of the sporophyte throughout development, the pollen transcriptome showed reduced complexity and a unique composition. We identified 992 pollen-expressed mRNAs, nearly 40% of which were detected specifically in pollen. Analysis of the functional composition of the pollen transcriptome revealed the over-representation of mRNAs encoding proteins involved in cell wall metabolism, cytoskeleton, and signaling and under-representation of mRNAs involved in transcription and protein synthesis. For several gene families, we observed a common pattern of mutually exclusive gene expression between pollen and sporophytic tissues for different gene family members. Our results provide a 50-fold increase in the knowledge of genes expressed in Arabidopsis pollen. Moreover, we also detail the extensive overlap (61%) of the pollen transcriptome with that of the sporophyte, which provides ample potential to influence sporophytic fitness through gametophytic selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Leicester, University Road, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Honys
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Twell
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000235:genetics; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D018745:Genome, Plant; D005810:Multigene Family; D011058:Pollen / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers