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Carbohydrate mobilization and gene regulatory profile in the pseudobulb of Oncidium orchid during the flowering process

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Abstract

The pseudobulb of Oncidium orchid is a storage organ for supplying water, minerals and carbohydrates to the developing inflorescence. Different patterns of mannan, starch and pectin metabolism were observed in the pseudobulb of three developmental stages by histochemical staining and high performance anion exchange chromatographic (HPAEC) analysis. Copious pectin was strongly stained by ruthenium red in young pseudobulbs demonstrating that mannan and pectin were preferentially accumulated in the young pseudobulb sink at inflorescence pre-initiation stage. Concomitant with the emergence of the inflorescence, mannan and pectin decreased gradually and converted to starch. The starch, synthesized at the inflorescence developing stage, was eventually degraded at the floral development stage. A systematic survey on the subtractive EST (expression sequence tag) library of pseudobulb in the inflorescence pre-initiation stage revealed the presence of five groups of gene homologues related to sucrose, mannan, starch, pectin and other carbohydrate metabolism. The transcriptional level of 13 relevant genes related to carbohydrate metabolism was characterized from pseudobulbs of three different developmental stages. The specific activities of the enzymes encoded by these genes were also assayed. The expression profiles of these genes show that the transcriptional levels largely correlated with the enzyme activities, which were associated with the respective carbohydrate pools. These results demonstrated a novel functional profile of polysaccharide mobilization pathway as well as their relevant gene expression in the pseudobulb of Oncidium orchid during the flowering process.

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Abbreviations

HPAEC:

High performance anion exchange chromatography

EST:

Expression sequence tags

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the National Science Council, Taiwan for the financial support granted to Professor Kai-Wun Yeh under the project NSC-93-2317-3-002-012. The authors are also grateful to Professor Zhang, R-H and Professor Wang A-Y, at the Department of Biochemistry, NTU, for their assistance in the enzymatic activity assays of starch phosphorylase and sucrose synthase, respectively. Appreciation is expressed to Associate Professor Hsieh H-L, at the Institute of Plant Biology, NTU for his kind provision of RPN8 antibody.

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Author notes

  1. Shripathi Venkatagiri

    Present address: Department of Botany, Karnatak University, Dharwad, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

    Chih-Yu Wang, Chung-Yi Chiou, Ramanarayan Krishnamurthy, Jun Tan & Kai-Wun Yeh

  2. Department of Life Science, National University of Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    Heng-Long Wang

  3. College of Bioinformatics, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, 400065, China

    Jun Tan

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  1. Chih-Yu Wang
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Correspondence to Kai-Wun Yeh.

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Wang, CY., Chiou, CY., Wang, HL. et al. Carbohydrate mobilization and gene regulatory profile in the pseudobulb of Oncidium orchid during the flowering process. Planta 227, 1063–1077 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-007-0681-1

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