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Characterization of wound responsive genes in Aquilaria malaccensis

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Abstract

We report on the isolation and characterization of several genes responsive to wounding in the tropical endangered tree Aquilaria malaccensis. Wounding triggers the formation of a fragrant substance inside the tree stem. Deduced amino acid of the cloned sequences exhibited sequence similarities to their respective homologs: transcription factors of the WRKY gene family (AmWRKY) and β-1,3-glucanase (AmGLU). A homolog to phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (AmPAL) from previous work was also included. All cDNA sequences were of partial lengths. We studied their expression profiles in a wounding-stress experiment. Mechanical wounding induces AmWRKY in an early response to wounding (3 h), and elevates AmPAL and AmGLU expressions after 16 h. It is possible that AmWRKY mediates early wounding response while AmPAL mediates response to fungal infection by co-inducing AmGLU. Their homologs in other plants are known to inhibit fungal growth. Our data provide the first insight into the mechanisms of wounding responses in Aquilaria.

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Abbreviations

GOI:

Gene of interest

GOInorm :

Normalized gene of interest

PR:

Pathogenesis-related

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative reverse transcription-PCR

RT:

Reverse transcription

RT-PCR:

Reverse transcription-PCR

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Acknowledgments

We thank Professor Dr. Tadashi Nobuchi (previously with Kyoto University, Japan, and Universiti Putra Malaysia) for his technical assistance and valuable suggestions. This work was supported by the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia under the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (Project No: 01-01-07-069FR), and by the Universiti Putra Malaysia, Research University Grant Scheme (Project No. 03-01-09-0829RU).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Management, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Mun Theng Wong, Chai Har Siah & Rozi Mohamed

  2. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Qamaruz Zaman Faridah

  3. Biodiversity Unit, Institute of Bioscience, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Qamaruz Zaman Faridah

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  1. Mun Theng Wong
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  2. Chai Har Siah
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  3. Qamaruz Zaman Faridah
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  4. Rozi Mohamed
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Correspondence to Rozi Mohamed.

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Wong, M.T., Siah, C.H., Faridah, Q.Z. et al. Characterization of wound responsive genes in Aquilaria malaccensis . J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 22, 168–175 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13562-012-0144-z

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