Array-based analysis on tobacco plastid transcripts: preparation of a genomic microarray containing all genes and all intergenic regions

The plastid genome of higher plants includes about 120 genes. We adopted genomic array technologies to the tobacco plastid genome. A microarray was constructed, consisting of 220 DNA fragments that cover the whole genome sequence. Each DNA fragment corresponds to a single known gene or an intergenic region. We evaluated reliability of this microarray by comparing the plastid RNA level in light- or dark-grown tobacco seedlings. The transcripts encoding photosynthetic subunits increased significantly in light-grown tissues as expected. Furthermore, we found unexpected signals in several intergenic regions, suggesting the existence of novel transcripts in tobacco plastids.