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A cDNA microarray analysis of the molecular control of poplar wood properties

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Abstract

Molecular biological research into wood development and formation has been the focus in recent years, but the pace of discovery of related genes and their functions in the control of wood properties has been slow. The microarray technique—with its advantages of high throughput capacity, sensitivity, and reliability over other tools developed for investigating genes expression patterns—is capable of rapidly assaying thousands of genes. In this study, a cDNA microarray prepared from two cDNA libraries of developing poplar xylem tissues was used to assay gene expression patterns in immature xylem tissues at different heights from the main stem of Populus deltoides (15 years old), which was confirmed to have distinct wood properties (microfibrillar angle, woody density) by X-ray. Two hundred seventy-four transcripts with differential expression profiles between the chips were screened out, and the individual clones were subjected to 5′ sequencing. Using bioinformatic analysis, we identified candidate genes that may influence poplar wood properties, many of which belong to various regulatory and signal transduction gene families, such as zinc finger protein transcription factor, DNA-binding transcription factor, ethylene response factors, and so on. The results suggest that these genes may regulate enzymes involved in wood formation. Further work will be performed to clone these genes and determine how they influence poplar wood properties.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

      Qinjun Huang, Changjun Ding, Weixi Zhang, Bingyu Zhang, Yanguang Chu, Dahai Wang & Xiaohua Su

    2. Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of State Forestry Administration, Beijing, 100091, China

      Qinjun Huang, Changjun Ding, Weixi Zhang, Bingyu Zhang, Yanguang Chu, Dahai Wang & Xiaohua Su

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    1. Qinjun Huang
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    2. Changjun Ding
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    3. Weixi Zhang
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    4. Bingyu Zhang
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    5. Yanguang Chu
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    6. Dahai Wang
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    7. Xiaohua Su
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    Correspondence to Xiaohua Su.

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    This work was supported by the State Key Basic Research Program of China (No. 2012CB114506).

    The online version is available at http://www.springerlink.com

    Corresponding editor: Hu Yanbo

    Qinjun Huang and Changjun Ding have contributed equally to this work.

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    Huang, Q., Ding, C., Zhang, W. et al. A cDNA microarray analysis of the molecular control of poplar wood properties. J. For. Res. 28, 71–82 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-016-0298-y

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-016-0298-y

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