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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

An Efficient Method for Quantitative, Single-cell Analysis of Chromatin Modification and Nuclear Architecture in Whole-mount Ovules in Arabidopsis
Published on: June 19, 2014
Transcription profiling of fertilization and early seed development events in a solanaceous species using a 7.7 K
Faiza Tebbji1, André Nantel, Daniel P Matton
1Département de Sciences Biologiques, Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Université de Montréal, 4101 rue Sherbrooke est, Montréal, Québec, H1X 2B2, Canada.
Background:
To provide a broad analysis of gene expression changes in developing embryos from a solanaceous species, we produced amplicon-derived microarrays with 7741 ESTs isolated from Solanum chacoense ovules bearing embryos from all developmental stages. Our aims were to: 1) identify genes expressed in a tissue-specific and temporal-specific manner; 2) define clusters of genes showing similar patterns of spatial and temporal expression; and 3) identify stage-specific or transition-specific candidate genes for further functional genomic analyses.
Results:
We analyzed gene expression during S. chacoense embryogenesis in a series of experiments with probes derived from ovules isolated before and after fertilization (from 0 to 22 days after pollination), and from leaves, anthers, and styles. From the 6374 unigenes present in our array, 1024 genes were differentially expressed (>or= +/- 2 fold change, p value
Conclusion:
Our analysis provides the first study in a solanaceous species of the transcriptional program that takes place during the early phases of plant reproductive development, including all embryogenesis steps during a comprehensive time-course. Our comparative expression profiling strategy between fertilized and unfertilized ovules identified a subset of genes specifically or predominantly expressed in ovules while a closer analysis between each consecutive time point allowed the identification of a subset of stage-specific and transition-specific genes.
