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JXB Advance Access originally published online on January 13, 2007
Journal of Experimental Botany 2007 58(3):593-614; doi:10.1093/jxb/erl246
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© The Author [2007]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

RESEARCH PAPER

Microarray gene expression profiling of developmental transitions in Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) apical shoots

Michael Friedmann1,2, Steven G. Ralph1, Dana Aeschliman1, Jun Zhuang3, Kermit Ritland3, Brian E. Ellis1, Joerg Bohlmann1,2,3,* and Carl J. Douglas2,*

1Michael Smith Laboratories, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
2Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
3Department of Forest Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bohlmann{at}interchange.ubc.ca or cdouglas{at}interchange.ubc.ca

The apical shoot drives the yearly new stem growth of conifer trees, is the primary site for the establishment of chemical and physical defences, and is important in establishing subsequent perennial growth. This organ presents an interesting developmental system, with growth and development progressing from a meristematic tip through development of a primary vascular system, to a base with fully differentiated and lignified secondary xylem on the inside and bark tissue with constitutive defence structures such as resin, polyphenolic phloem parenchyma cells, and sclereids on the outside. A spruce (Picea spp.) microarray containing approximately 16.7K unique cDNAs was used to study transcript profiles that characterize the developmental transition in apical shoots of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) from their vegetative tips to their woody bases. Along with genes involved in cell-wall modification and lignin biosynthesis, a number of differentially regulated genes encoding protein kinases and transcription factors with base-preferred expression patterns were identified, which could play roles in the formation of woody tissues inside the apical shoot, as well as in regulating other developmental transitions associated with organ maturation. Preferential expression of known conifer defence genes, genes encoding defence-related proteins, and genes encoding regulatory proteins was observed at the apical shoot tip and in the green bark tissues at the apical shoot base, suggesting a commitment to constitutive defence in the apical shoot that is co-ordinated with rapid development of secondary xylem.

Key words: Conifer ESTs, lipid transfer protein, resin duct, secondary cell wall, terpenoid secondary metabolism, white pine weevil (Pissodes strobi), xylem


Authors contributions: MF conducted experiments, analysed data and helped with manuscript preparation; SGR provided materials, helped with data analysis and manuscript preparation; DA, JZ, and KR helped with data analysis and data interpretation; BEE helped with data interpretation; JB conceived the study, designed experiments, played a lead role in data interpretation and manuscript preparation; CJD helped direct the study and played a lead role in data interpretation and manuscript preparation. JB, CJD, BEE, and KR secured funding for this study.

Received 17 July 2006; Revised 20 September 2006 Accepted 16 October 2006


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