Abstract Detail

Developmental and Structural Section

Russell, Scott [1], Gou, Xiaoping [2], Zhang, Yanan [1], Miao, Sen [3], Tian, Hui-Qiao [1].

Genome-wide transcriptional profiles of the pre-and post-fertilization rice gametes reflect unique contributions from the egg and sperm cell.

Microarray technology permits relatively small quantities of total RNA to be collected and amplified to allow examination of transcripts present in the male and female gametes of flowering plants. Rice (Oryza sativa spp. japonica) were used because of its availability, well known timetable, cell cycle readiness and development of protocols for collection of enriched intact gametic cells. Linearly amplified labeled transcript template material was hybridized to the 57K genomic microarray of Affymetrix according to manufacturer's instructions and analyzed using Affymetrix microarray processing equipment and software. Normalization was conducted using dChip software by MBEI. Presence and absence calls were determined using the MAS 5 algorithm with p < 0.05 for present, 0.05 < p < 0.07 for marginal and p > 0.07 for absent. When probe sets were normalized using unique mapping, a majority of genes were expressed in both the egg and sperm cells with enriched expression in the egg cell. Most of these represent genes which are present in essentially all rice cell types examined to date and thus maybe regarded as a conserved set of presumed "housekeeping genes". Since cytoplasm of the sperm cells is believed to be transmitted in many plants during plasmogamy, some sperm genes may be expressed in the zygote and embryo, as with Arabidopsis; however, the relative abundance of these genes is subject to significant change after fertilization. With maturation of the zygote, another distinct suite of genes establish the transcriptome of the embryo.

Broader Impacts:

1 - Xiamen University, School of Life Sciences, Xiamen, 361005, China
2 - Lanzhou University, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China
3 - University of Oklahoma, Department of Botany and Microbiology, Norman, OK, 73019

Keywords:
Fertilization
Microarray
Oryza sativa
Transcriptome
Sperm cell
Egg cell
Angiosperm gametes.

Presentation Type: Oral Paper:Papers for Sections
Session: 42
Location: Portland Room/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
Time: 9:15 AM
Number: 42004
Abstract ID:743