Identification of differentially expressed transcripts from maturing stem of sugarcane by in silico analysis of stem expressed sequence tags and gene expression profiling.
Sugarcane accumulates high concentrations of sucrose in the mature stem and a number of physiological processes on-going in maturing stem tissue both directly and indirectly allow this process. To identify transcripts that are associated with stem maturation, we compared patterns of gene expression in maturing and immature stem tissue by expression profiling and bioinformatic analysis of sets of stem ESTs. This study complements a previous study of gene expression associated directly with sugar metabolism in sugarcane. A survey of sequences derived from stem tissue identified an abundance of several classes of sequence that are associated with fibre biosynthesis in the maturing stem. A combination of EST analyses and microarray hybridization revealed that genes encoding homologues of the dirigent protein, a protein that assists in the stereospecificity of lignin assembly, were the most abundant and most strongly differentially expressed transcripts in maturing stem tissue. There was also evidence of coordinated expression of other categories of fibre biosynthesis and putative defence- and stress-related transcripts in the maturing stem. This study has demonstrated the utility of genomic approaches using large-scale EST acquisition and microarray hybridization techniques to highlight the very significant transcriptional investment the maturing stem of sugarcane has placed in fibre biosynthesis and stress tolerance, in addition to its already well-documented role in sugar accumulation.
CSIRO Plant Industry, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia. rosanne.casu@csiro.au
Rosanne E
RE
Casu
Christine M
CM
Dimmock
Scott C
SC
Chapman
Christopher P L
CP
Grof
C Lynne
CL
McIntyre
Graham D
GD
Bonnett
John M
JM
Manners
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D015723:Gene Library; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D031786:Saccharum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D018076:DNA, Complementary; D018749:RNA, Plant