PATTERNS OF GENE EXPRESSION IN SUGARCANE MONITORED USING cDNA MACROARRAYS

A sugarcane Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) database has been established which has led to the identification of genes in different tissues. Gene identity alone, however, does not provide information about patterns of gene expression nor allow elucidation of gene function. As a first step towards functional genome analysis in sugarcane, expression profiles are being developed for a random selection of sugarcane gene sequences with a specific focus on tissue differential expression. In this study, cDNA macroarrays containing 1400 sugarcane clones were screened with total cDNA probes prepared from leaf, leaf roll, immature culm and mature culm tissue. Hybridisation patterns obtained suggest that the majority of genes are constitutively expressed between the different tissue types tested. Work is in progress to identify and characterise the 20% pool of differentially expressed genes. A preliminary functional analysis of gene expression is discussed.