The chloroplast ycf2 gene plays a vital unknown function in the higher plants: gene silencing or reduction in mRNA synthesis induce cell death (Drescher et al., 2000). Using the SSH technique, Bernardi et al. (2008) isolated a cDNA sequence in cold tolerant plants of Olea europaea L. showing a very high expression of the ycf2 gene induced by cold treatment. The olive gene was isolated and sequenced. It presents a 6385 nucleotide length and the sequence is highly conserved in the plants, also in the rudimentary plastid genome of the non-photosynthetic parasitic Epifagus virginiana (Wolfe et al., 1992), thus confirming an essential role for the plant survival. The hypothetical protein sequence is constituted of 2278 amino acids presenting an ATPase domain and a DUF825 domain with unknown function. We have focused our work on the fruit development of O. europaea in order to verify if ycf2 may have a specialized function in non-photosynthetic tissues during seed maturation, as reported for tomato by Richards et al. (1994). Semi-quantitative RT-PCR using mRNA extracted at different maturation stages indicated that mRNA is present in fruits of all stages, although the higher concentration was found in leaves. Analysis of ycf2 transcripts in poplar plants treated with ozone and in plane infected with Ceratocystis fimbriata, agent of the colored canker, confirmed a differential expression of the gene after the stressing treatments. All the results point to a defense activation of ycf2 both in biotic and abiotic stresses.
Chloropastic ycf2 Gene Expression in Stressed Plants
BERNARDI, RODOLFO
2009-01-01
Abstract
The chloroplast ycf2 gene plays a vital unknown function in the higher plants: gene silencing or reduction in mRNA synthesis induce cell death (Drescher et al., 2000). Using the SSH technique, Bernardi et al. (2008) isolated a cDNA sequence in cold tolerant plants of Olea europaea L. showing a very high expression of the ycf2 gene induced by cold treatment. The olive gene was isolated and sequenced. It presents a 6385 nucleotide length and the sequence is highly conserved in the plants, also in the rudimentary plastid genome of the non-photosynthetic parasitic Epifagus virginiana (Wolfe et al., 1992), thus confirming an essential role for the plant survival. The hypothetical protein sequence is constituted of 2278 amino acids presenting an ATPase domain and a DUF825 domain with unknown function. We have focused our work on the fruit development of O. europaea in order to verify if ycf2 may have a specialized function in non-photosynthetic tissues during seed maturation, as reported for tomato by Richards et al. (1994). Semi-quantitative RT-PCR using mRNA extracted at different maturation stages indicated that mRNA is present in fruits of all stages, although the higher concentration was found in leaves. Analysis of ycf2 transcripts in poplar plants treated with ozone and in plane infected with Ceratocystis fimbriata, agent of the colored canker, confirmed a differential expression of the gene after the stressing treatments. All the results point to a defense activation of ycf2 both in biotic and abiotic stresses.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
