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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Tifton, Georgia » Crop Protection and Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #158077
Title: REPORT ON MICROARRAY ANALYSIS OF GENE EXPRESSION OF CORN IN RESPONSE TO ASPERGILLUS FLAVUS AND DROUGHT STRESS

Author
item LUO, M - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item LEE, R - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item Guo, Baozhu

Submitted to: Aflatoxin Elimination Workshop Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2003
Publication Date: 12/15/2003
Citation: Luo, M., Lee, R. D., Guo, B. 2003. Report of microarray analysis of gene expression of corn in response to Aspergillus flavus and drought stress [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 3rd Fungal Genomics, 4th Fumonisin and 16th Aflatoxin Elimination Workshops, October 13-15, 2003, Savannah, Georgia. p. 57.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The previous researches have shown the possible relationship between drought tolerance and reduced preharvest aflatoxin contamination in corn (Zea mays). The goals of this project are to better understand global gene expression under drought stress and Aspergillus flavus infection at different stages of seed development, and to identify the related biochemical pathways and important genes of resistance to A. flavus. The inbred lines of GT-A1-1 and B73 were used in this study. We are interested in the genes expressing at the late development phase of corn kernel under water deficit stress and A. flavus challenge. Transcriptional profiles of corn kernels at the 25 d after pollination (DAP) were compared under different conductions including normal development, water deficit stress, A. flavus challenge, and salicilic acid (SA) inducement. The latest version of maize micorarray chips-Master Unigene from Maize Gene Discovery Project were used in the study, which has about 20,736 unique ESTs in each slide. Microarray scanner- ScanArray Express was used to produce and analyze the microarray image. In the 25DAP corn kernels of GT-A1-1, there are 1203 up-regulated and 1357 down-regulated genes expressed under drought stress. There are 620 genes in normal condition and 682 genes in drought condition expressed after A. flavus inoculation. To analyze the genes that express both in drought stress and A. flavus challenged corn, the genes expression profilings were compared under these two conditions. Four hundred and sixty-three spots in chips appeared significant positive signal both in comparison. These genes include those used in metabolism, energy, protein destination, secondary metabolism, transcription, cellular biogenesis, cellular transport etc. Some genes were found to belong to cell communication and signal transduction such as MAP3k-like protein kinase, receptor protein kinase, serin/threonine kinase, calmodulin etc. The genes in defense and cell rescue were also found such as early drought induced protein, heat shock protein, pathogenesis related protein, polygalacturonase, stress-induced protein sti 1, abscisic acid induced protein etc. To identify the genes related with A. flavus resistance, gene expression profiling was studied in the A. flavus inoculation under drought stress and SA inducement, and about 685 and 1174 gene were found to express respectively. These primary results and the further identification are still in process.