First published online July 9, 2004; 10.1104/pp.104.043182
Plant Physiology 135:1765-1775 (2004)
© 2004 American Society of Plant Biologists
GENETICS, GENOMICS, AND MOLECULAR EVOLUTION
Transcriptional Programs of Early Reproductive Stages in Arabidopsis1,[w]
Lars Hennig,
Wilhelm Gruissem,
Ueli Grossniklaus and
Claudia Köhler*
Institute of Plant Sciences and Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center (L.H., W.G.) and Functional Genomics Center Zurich (W.G.), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Center, CH8092 Zurich, Switzerland; and Institute of Plant Biology and Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center, University of Zurich, CH8008 Zurich, Switzerland (U.G., C.K.)
The life cycle of flowering plants alternates between a diploid sporophytic and a haploid gametophytic generation. After fertilization of each the egg and central cells by one male gamete, the development of both fertilization products occurs coordinated with the maternally derived seed coat and carpel tissues forming the fruit. The reproduction program is likely to involve the concerted activity of many genes. To identify genes with specific functions during reproduction, we have analyzed the expression profile of more than 22,000 genes present on the Arabidopsis ATH1 microarray during three stages of flower and fruit development. We found 1,886 genes regulated during reproductive development and 1,043 genes that were specifically expressed during reproduction. When compared to cells from an Arabidopsis suspension culture, S-phase genes were underrepresented and G2 and M-phase genes were strongly enriched in the set of specific genes, indicating that important functions during reproduction are exerted in the G2 and M phases of the cell cycle. Many potential signaling components, such as receptor-like protein kinases, phosphatases, and transcription factors, were present in both groups of genes. Members of the YABBY, MADS box, and Myb transcription factor families were significantly overrepresented in the group of specific genes, revealing an important role of these families during reproduction. Furthermore, we found a significant enrichment of predicted secreted proteins smaller than 15 kD that could function directly as signaling molecules or as precursors for peptide hormones. Our study provides a basis for targeted reverse-genetic approaches aimed to identify key genes of reproductive development in plants.
1 This work was supported by the Human Frontier Science Program (grants to C.K.), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (grants to L.H.), the Functional Genomics Centre Zurich, and the University of Zurich.
[w] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.
Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.104.043182.
* Corresponding author; e-mail ckoehler{at}botinst.unizh.ch; fax 4116348204.
Received March 21, 2004;
returned for revision April 19, 2004;
accepted April 23, 2004.
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