A global analysis of gene expression in histological layers of the shoot apical meristem of maize

ABSTRACT: All above ground organs of higher plants are ultimately derived from specialized organogenic structures termed shoot apical meristems (SAMs). The SAM exhibits distinctive structural organization, marked by cell layering. Maize SAMs are comprised of two cell layers, L1 (single cell layered tunica) and L2 (corpus). To identify genes required for layer-specific functions intact maize SAMs were fixed, embedded in paraffin and sectioned. L1 and L2 cells were isolated from these sections via laser capture microdissection (LCM). RNA was isolated from six biological replications of L1 and L2, amplified and hybridized to microarrays spotted with ~37,000 maize cDNA clones. This experiment identified ~700 ESTs that are preferentially expressed in the L1 or the L2 (P <0.001). The L1-up-regulated ESTs included ZmOCL1 and ZmOCL4, which are known to exhibit L1-specific expression in the maize SAM. The L2-up-regulated ESTs included KNOTTED1, whose transcripts are known to accumulate in the L2 but not in the L1 of the maize SAM. Differentially expressed ESTs included genes involved in transcription, signal transduction, transport and metabolism, many of which are novel candidates that are required for layer-specific functions in the maize SAM. Several L1-up-regulated ESTs were annotated as yabby family genes or basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor-like genes, which have not previously been reported as having layer-specific expression in the SAM. Novel WW domain-containing genes (WW genes) were identified in this study. The WW domain mediates protein-protein interactions, often with signal transduction components. These WW genes were substantially up-regulated in the L1 relative to the L2. Keywords: Cell Type Comparison

ORGANISM(S): Zea mays

PROVIDER: GSE9610 | GEO | 2008/11/11

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA103461

REPOSITORIES: GEO