Expression and function of candidate genes differentially expressed in apomictic and sexual Paspalum notatum plants

PESSINO SC

Rosario

Encuentro; II Ciclo de seminarios sobre avances en la caracterización genética y molecular de la apomixis en gramíneas forrajeras; 2010

Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias UNR/IBONE/CERZOS

In the past few years we identified 65 unisequences differentially expressed in reproductive organs of sexual and apomictic plants. While most of them corresponded to protein-coding sequences, several appeared to encode retroelements including transduplicated gene segments as well as putative miRNAs precursors. Here we present the efforts to characterize the quantitative spatio-temporal pattern of gene expression and function for several of these candidates. In situ hybridization experiments and real-time PCR quantitation were used to investigate expression profiles at different developmental stages. In the case of miRNA, putative targets were identified, their expression was characterized and clivage products were isolated and sequenced. The occurrence of related phenotypically-characterized mutant germplasm was determined in the model species. A transformation platform, aimed at modifying gene expression, was develop in order to investigate function.