Project description:An attractive objective in the breeding of forest trees is to reduce the content of lignin or alter the lignin composition. However, for long-lived forest trees, such as conifers, it is time consuming and expensive to wait until mature wood is formed for estimating how different ligninfication genes affect cell wall differentiation. The aim of this work was to examine the possibility of detecting changes in global gene expression and of genes involved in lignin biosynthesis already in embryogenic cultures carrying the native Norway spruce cinnamoyl CoA reductase (CCR) gene in antisense orientation. Several genes, including genes regulating phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and peroxidase, regulating different pathways associated with lignin biosynthesis were affected but the transcript abundances of genes regulating lignin biosynthesis were not affected. Functional assignment defined by Gene Ontology terms, which provide functional classification for genes and gene products representing their corresponding biological process, cellular component and molecular function showed that transformation with asCCR affects a broad spectrum of functional categories, especially processes taking place in the cell wall. Furthermore, many changes in genes related to chromatin, DNA and chromosome take place. Keywords: transgenic Norway spruce, embryogenic culture
Project description:Analysis of the subunits composition of the thylakoids protein complexes in Picea abies (Norway spruce) by means of two-dimensional large-pore Blue-Native/sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D lpBN/SDS-PAGE) and in-gel tryptic digestion of single spots.
