Early gene expression in the walnut tree occurring during stimulation of leaf hydraulic conductance by irradiance
Résumé
Leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) plays a significant part in plant-water regulation. In walnut leaves, Kleaf is stimulated by irradiance and closely relates to the accumulation of JrPIP2s aquaporin transcripts, but it is independent of stomatal aperture. To provide an insight into the early molecular events occurred during light-induced Kleaf, a large-scale transcriptomic analysis consisting of the cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was carried out on walnut leaves maintained under irradiance or in darkness. Of the total 12 000 transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) obtained using cDNA-AFLP with 128 primer pairs, 187 TDFs were selected after sequencing, and only 93 (49 %) that had been ascribed known functions through BLAST searching of the GenBank databases. Most of these TDFs correspond to genes whose protein products are involved in cellular regulation (57.9 %) and global metabolism (39.8 %). To validate cDNA-AFLP expression patterns, 30 TDFs were further analyzed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Moreover, exposure of leaves to irradiance was accompanied by the modification of the Ca2+-signaling pathway, ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, vesicle trafficking process and expression of multiple transcription factors.