cDNA-AFLP-based numerical comparison of leaf and root organ cDNAs in Catharanthus roseus.

Comparative transcriptome study of the leaf and root tissues of Catharanthus roseus is a prerequisite for causing any favorable tissue-specific change in the secondary metabolism of this species. This study was aimed at comparative analysis of the leaf and root cDNAs in C. roseus, using a cDNA-AFLP approach. Using 64 primer combinations (EcoRI and MseI), a total of 784 distinct transcriptionally-defined fragments (TDFs) could be detected in the root and leaf tissue transcript populations. The leaf tissue yielded a larger number of TDFs than the root tissue (556 versus 464), indicating a greater variety of expressing genes in the leaf. The leaf-specific TDFs (320) outnumbered the root-specific TDFs (228), indicating a higher number of leaf-specific functions and the relative complexity of the leaf tissue vis-à-vis the root tissue. Among the 236 TDFs that were detected in both types of tissues, 42 had nearly equal expression levels in both the tissues (L=R). Common TDFs having higher expression levels in the leaf (L>R; 124) outnumbered those having higher expression levels in the root (L<R; 70), which again reinforced the predominance of the leaf transcriptome over the root transcriptome.