来自中国农业大学，国家植物基因研究中心，植物生理与生物化学国家重点实验室的研究人员利用Affymetrix拟南芥ATH1基因组芯片，全面分析了花粉萌发和花粉管生长过程中的转录组变化情况，发现了这个过程中一些重要变化。这一研究成果公布在Plant Physiol.杂志上。
花粉萌发（Pollen germination）即花粉沿着花粉管的生长过程，是开花植物繁殖的一个必要过程，这个过程是研究细胞生长和形态发生的一个理想模型。
为了能进一步了解这个重要过程的详细细节，研究人员在这篇文章中全面分析了花粉萌发和花粉管生长过程中的转录组变化情况。通过利用Affymetrix拟南芥ATH1基因组芯片，研究人员首次发现了从脱水成熟花粉粒，到含水花粉粒，再到拟南芥的花粉管的转录组变化：这些花粉和花粉管中表达基因的数目，无论是整个表达基因，还是特异性表达的基因，都增加了很多。
Gene Ontology的分析结果表明，在花粉萌发和花粉管生长过程中，与细胞存活，转录，信号传导和细胞转运有关的表达基因发生了很大的变化，尤其是那些正调控的基因。而且研究人员还发现，类钙调蛋白，阳离子交换因子，以及热激蛋白家族在花粉萌发和花粉管生长过程中变化较大，这些结果都说明在这个过程中，基因的整体转录都增加了。
在花粉萌发和花粉管过程中新出现的这些转录组说明这个复杂过程中出现了新的基因表达，这些新表达的基因的功能值得更加深入的研究。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Plant Physiology 148:1201-1211 (2008) DOI:10.1104/pp.108.126375
Transcriptome Analyses Show Changes in Gene Expression to Accompany Pollen Germination and Tube Growth in Arabidopsis
Yi Wang2, Wen-Zheng Zhang2, Lian-Fen Song, Jun-Jie Zou, Zhen Su and Wei-Hua Wu*
State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Biological Sciences, National Plant Gene Research Center (Beijing), China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Pollen germination, along with pollen tube growth, is an essential process for the reproduction of flowering plants. The germinating pollen with tip-growth characteristics provides an ideal model system for the study of cell growth and morphogenesis. As an essential step toward a detailed understanding of this important process, the objective of this study was to comprehensively analyze the transcriptome changes during pollen germination and pollen tube growth. Using Affymetrix Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) ATH1 Genome Arrays, this study is, to our knowledge, the first to show the changes in the transcriptome from desiccated mature pollen grains to hydrated pollen grains and then to pollen tubes of Arabidopsis. The number of expressed genes, either for total expressed genes or for specifically expressed genes, increased significantly from desiccated mature pollen to hydrated pollen and again to growing pollen tubes, which is consistent with the finding that pollen germination and tube growth were significantly inhibited in vitro by a transcriptional inhibitor. The results of Gene Ontology analyses showed that expression of genes related to cell rescue, transcription, signal transduction, and cellular transport was significantly changed, especially for up-regulation, during pollen germination and tube growth. In particular, genes of the calmodulin/calmodulin-like protein, cation/hydrogen exchanger, and heat shock protein families showed the most significant changes during pollen germination and tube growth. These results demonstrate that the overall transcription of genes, both in the number of expressed genes and in the levels of transcription, was increased. Furthermore, the appearance of many novel transcripts during pollen germination as well as tube growth indicates that these newly expressed genes may function in this complex process.
1 This work was supported by a competitive research grant for creative research groups sponsored by the National Science Foundation of China (grant no. 30421002).
2 These authors contributed equally to the article.
