Biomedical subjects

Per L Gregersen

Publications and source records attributed to Per L Gregersen.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Transcriptome analysis of senescence in the flag leaf of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.).

The senescence process in wheat flag leaves was investigated over a time course from ear emergence until 50% yellowing of harvested leaf samples using an in-house fabricated cDNA microarray based on a 9K wheat unigene set. The top 1000 ranked differentially expressed probes were subjected to a cluster analysis and, from these, we selected 140 up-regulated genes with informative annotations. There was a considerable overlap between this list of genes and genes previously observed to be associated with senescence in other species, covering several functional categories involved in the degradation of macromolecules and nutrient remobilization, notably of nitrogen via the metabolism of carboxylic and amino acids. The up-regulation of a number of genes in this metabolism was confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction experiments. The data suggest a role for cytosolic/peroxisomal routes in the integration of the degradation of carbohydrates, fatty acids and proteins, leading to the remobilization of nitrogen. Illustrative examples of up-regulated genes comprise cytoplasmic aconitate hydratase and peroxisomal citrate synthase. The data support a protective role of the mitochondria towards oxidative cell damage via the up-regulation of the alternative oxidase, and possibly also involving the up-regulated succinate dehydrogenase. A number of up-regulated regulatory genes were also identified, notably NAC-domain and WRKY transcription factors. These factors have previously been identified as being associated with senescence in other species. The data support the notion that a generic senescence programme exists across monocot and dicot plant species. However, notable differences can also be recognized. We thus found transcriptional up-regulation of the biosynthetic pathway for benzoxazinoids, a group of graminaceous-specific secondary metabolites.

Aging↗

PubMed2005

A microarray-based comparative analysis of gene expression profiles during grain development in transgenic and wild type wheat.

Global, comparative gene expression analysis is potentially a very powerful tool in the safety assessment of transgenic plants since it allows for the detection of differences in gene expression patterns between a transgenic line and the mother variety. In the present study, we compared the gene expression profile in developing seeds of wild type wheat and wheat transformed for endosperm-specific expression of an Aspergillus fumigatus phytase. High-level expression of the phytase gene was ensured by codon modification towards the prevalent codon usage of wheat genes and by using the wheat 1DX5HMW glutenin promoter for driving transgene expression. A 9K wheat unigene cDNA microarray was produced from cDNA libraries prepared mainly from developing wheat seed. The arrays were hybridised to flourescently labelled cDNA prepared from developing seeds of the transgenic wheat line and the mother variety, Bobwhite, at three developmental stages. Comparisons and statistical analyses of the gene expression profiles of the transgenic line vs. that of the mother line revealed only slight differences at the three developmental stages. In the few cases where differential expression was indicated by the statistical analysis it was primarily genes that were strongly expressed over a shorter interval of seed development such as genes encoding storage proteins. Accordingly, we interpret these differences in gene expression levels to result from minor asynchrony in seed development between the transgenic line and the mother line. In support of this, real time PCR validation of results from selected genes at the late developmental stage could not confirm differential expression of these genes. We conclude that the expression of the codon-modified A. fumigatus phytase gene in the wheat seed had no significant effects on the overall gene expression patterns in the developing seed.

6-Phytase↗