Transcriptional regulation of vascular cambium activity during the transition from juvenile to mature stages in Cunninghamia lanceolata.
Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook., an evergreen conifer distributed in southern China, has been recognized as the most commercially important timber species due to its rapid growth. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying growth alternation due to vascular cambium activity are poorly understood. Here, we used cryosectioning to isolate the vascular cambium tissue of C. lanceolata at three stages, namely, juvenile, transition and mature (3-, 13-, and 35-year-old trees respectively) for transcriptome-wide analysis. Through assembling and annotation of transcripts, 108,767 unigenes and some potential growth-regulated genes were identified. A total of 5213, 4873 and 2541 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in the three stages. DEGs related to cambial activity, cell division and cell wall modification were detected at various developmental stages of the vascular cambium. In addition, some putative genes involved in plant hormone biosynthesis were also differentially regulated. These results indicate that various cambium-related molecular activities result in alterations in the growth of C. lanceolata, particularly during the transition from juvenile to mature stages. The findings of the present study improve our understanding of cambium development and may aid in studies of the molecular mechanisms of wood production and provide fundamental insights into the establishment of the optimal rotation period for silvicultural trees.
Key Laboratory for Genetics and Breeding of Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
Huimin
H
Xu
Key Laboratory for Genetics and Breeding of Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
Dechang
D
Cao
College of Forestry, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fujian 350002, China.
Jinling
J
Feng
Key Laboratory for Genetics and Breeding of Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China.
Hongyang
H
Wu
Key Laboratory for Genetics and Breeding of Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China; Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
Jinxing
J
Lin
Key Laboratory for Genetics and Breeding of Forest Trees and Ornamental Plants of Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Tree Breeding, College of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: ywwang@bjfu.edu.cn.
Yanwei
Y
Wang
D058506:Cambium / Q000235:genetics*; D032486:Cunninghamia / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D063990:Gene Ontology; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D058526:Plant Vascular Bundle / Q000235:genetics*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics
Cambial activity; Cunninghamia lanceolata; Illumina sequencing; Juvenile-to-mature transition; Transcriptome-wide analysis; Vascular cambium