Project description:The goal of this experiment is to assess tissue preferential transcript accumulation and fold difference between two tissues that support secondary vascular growth in three spruces: Picea glauca, Picea sitchensis and Picea mariana. Tissues compared are secondary xylem (wood forming tissue located on the internal side of the cambial meristem) and phelloderm (composite sample of the phloem and phelloderm tissues located on the outer side of the cambial meristem).
Project description:Small RNAs (21-24 nt) are pivotal regulators of gene expression that guide both transcriptional and post-transcriptional silencing mechanisms in diverse eukaryotes, including most if not all plants. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are the two major types, both of which have a demonstrated and important role in plant development, stress responses and pathogen resistance. In this work, we used a deep sequencing approach (Sequencing-By-Synthesis, or SBS) to develop sequence resources of small RNAs from Picea abies tissues (including needles, immature cones and lateral bud meristem). The high depth of the resulting datasets enabled us to examine in detail critical small RNA features as size distribution, tissue-specific regulation and sequence conservation between different organs in this species. We also developed database resources and a dedicated website (http://smallrna.udel.edu/) with computational tools for allowing other users to identify new miRNAs or siRNAs involved in specific regulatory pathways, verify the degree of conservation of these sequences in other plant species and map small RNAs on genes or larger regions of the maize genome under study.
Project description:The goal of this experiment is to assess tissue preferential transcript accumulation and fold difference between two tissues that support secondary vascular growth in three spruces: Picea glauca, Picea sitchensis and Picea mariana. Tissues compared are secondary xylem (wood forming tissue located on the internal side of the cambial meristem) and phelloderm (composite sample of the phloem and phelloderm tissues located on the outer side of the cambial meristem). One-color comparison of 3 spruce species in 2 tissue types: xylem and phelloderm. 20 biological repetitions per tissue for Picea glauca and 15 for Picea sitchensis and Picea mariana, for a total of 100 slides.