Tausta S Lori, Li Pinghua, Si Yaqing, Gandotra Neeru, Liu Peng, Sun Qi, Brutnell Thomas P, Nelson Timothy
Department of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA.
College of Agriculture, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian 271018, China.
J Exp Bot. 2014 Jul;65(13):3543-55. doi: 10.1093/jxb/eru152. Epub 2014 Apr 30.
The comparison of the cell-specific transcriptomes of bundle sheath (BS) and mesophyll (M) cells from successive developmental stages of maize (Zea mays) leaves reveals that the number of genes preferentially transcribed in one cell type or the other varies considerably from the sink-source transition to mature photosynthetic stages. The number of differentially expressed (DE) genes is maximal at a stage well before full maturity, including those that encode key functions for C4 photosynthesis. The developmental dynamics of BS/M differential expression can be used to identify candidates for other C4-related functions and to simplify the identification of specific pathways members from otherwise complex gene families. A significant portion of the candidates for C4-related transcription factors identified with this developmental DE strategy overlap with those identified in studies using alternative strategies, thus providing independent support for their potential importance.
对玉米（Zea mays）叶片连续发育阶段的维管束鞘（BS）细胞和叶肉（M）细胞的细胞特异性转录组进行比较，结果表明，从库-源转变到成熟光合阶段，优先在一种细胞类型或另一种细胞类型中转录的基因数量有很大差异。差异表达（DE）基因的数量在完全成熟前的一个阶段达到最大值，包括那些编码C4光合作用关键功能的基因。BS/M差异表达的发育动态可用于识别其他C4相关功能的候选基因，并简化从原本复杂的基因家族中鉴定特定途径成员的过程。用这种发育性DE策略鉴定出的与C4相关转录因子的大量候选基因与使用其他策略的研究中鉴定出的候选基因重叠，从而为它们的潜在重要性提供了独立支持。
