First published online January 23, 2003; 10.1104/pp.014365
Plant Physiol, February 2003, Vol. 131, pp. 568-582
Comparative Transcriptional Profiling of Placenta and Endosperm
in Developing Maize Kernels in Response to Water
Deficit1
Long-Xi
Yu and
Tim
L.
Setter*
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York 14853
The early post-pollination phase of maize (Zea mays)
development is particularly sensitive to water deficit stress. Using cDNA microarray, we studied transcriptional profiles of endosperm and
placenta/pedicel tissues in developing maize kernels under water
stress. At 9 d after pollination (DAP), placenta/pedicel and
endosperm differed considerably in their transcriptional responses. In
placenta/pedicel, 79 genes were significantly affected by stress and of
these 89% were up-regulated, whereas in endosperm, 56 genes were
significantly affected and 82% of these were down-regulated. Only nine
of the stress-regulated genes were in common between these tissues.
Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that different sets of genes
were regulated in the two tissues. After rewatering at 9 DAP, profiles
at 12 DAP suggested that two regulons exist, one for genes responding
specifically to concurrent imposition of stress, and another for genes
remaining affected after transient stress. In placenta, genes encoding
recognized stress tolerance proteins, including heat shock proteins,
chaperonins, and major intrinsic proteins, were the largest class of
genes regulated, all of which were up-regulated. In contrast, in
endosperm, genes in the cell division and growth category represented a
large class of down-regulated genes. Several cell wall-degrading
enzymes were expressed at lower levels than in controls, suggesting
that stress delayed normal advance to programmed cell death in the
central endosperm. We suggest that the responsiveness of placenta to
whole-plant stress factors (water potential, abscisic acid, and sugar
flux) and of endosperm to indirect factors may play key roles in
determining the threshold for kernel abortion.
1
This work was supported by the National Research
Initiative Competitive Grants Program of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (grant no. 00-35100-9279).
*
Corresponding author; e-mail TLS1{at}cornell.edu; fax
607-255-2644.
© 2003 American Society of Plant Biologists
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