Regulatory gene candidates and gene expression analysis of cold acclimation in winter and spring wheat.
Freezing tolerance in plants develops through acclimation to cold by growth at low, above-freezing temperatures. Wheat is one of the most freezing-tolerant plants among major crop species and the wide range of freezing tolerance among wheat cultivars makes it an excellent model for investigation of the genetic basis of cold tolerance. Large numbers of genes are known to have altered levels of expression during the period of cold acclimation and there is keen interest in deciphering the signaling and regulatory pathways that control the changes in gene expression associated with acquired freezing tolerance. A 5740 feature cDNA amplicon microarray that was enriched for signal transduction and regulatory genes was constructed to compare changes in gene expression in a highly cold-tolerant winter wheat cultivar CDC Clair and a less tolerant spring cultivar, Quantum. Changes in gene expression over a time course of 14 days detected over 450 genes that were regulated by cold treatment and were differentially regulated between spring and winter cultivars, of these 130 are signaling or regulatory gene candidates, including: transcription factors, protein kinases, ubiquitin ligases and GTP, RNA and calcium binding proteins. Dynamic changes in transcript levels were seen at all periods of cold acclimation in both cultivars. There was an initial burst of gene activity detectable during the first day of CA, during which 90% of all genes with increases in transcript levels became clearly detectable and early expression differential between the two cultivars became more disparate with each successive period of cold acclimation.
Monroy
Antonio F
AF
Department of Biology and Centre for Structural and Functional Genomics, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke West, Montreal, QC, Canada, H4B 1R6.
Dryanova
Ani
A
Malette
Brigitte
B
Oren
Daniel H
DH
Ridha Farajalla
Mohammed
M
Liu
Wucheng
W
Danyluk
Jean
J
Ubayasena
Lasantha W C
LW
Kane
Khalil
K
Scoles
Graham J
GJ
Sarhan
Fathey
F
Gulick
Patrick J
PJ
D000064:Acclimatization / Q000235:genetics*; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003080:Cold Temperature; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018745:Genome, Plant; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D011494:Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012621:Seasons; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology
D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors; D011494:Protein Kinases