Gene expression patterns associated with in vitro tracheary element formation in isolated single mesophyll cells of Zinnia elegans.

Tracheary element formation from isolated Zinnia leaf mesophyll cells is an excellent system for the dissection of patterned secondary cell wall thickening and lignification. We used mRNAs from cells cultured for 48 h in the induction medium to isolate differentially regulated genes. Thirteen unique cDNA clones were isolated using a subtractive hybridization method. These clones can be divided into three distinct groups according to their characteristic gene expression in different media. The first group includes those genes whose expression is induced in the basal medium without 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and benzyladenine; this indicates that the expression of these genes is regulated by chemical and physical factors other than these hormones. Three of these clones, p48h-229, p48h-114, and p48h-102, show significant homology to a pathogenesis-related protein II, a serine proteinase inhibitor, and a sunflower anther-specific proline-rich protein, respectively. The second group includes those genes whose expression is mainly NAA induced. One of these clones, p48h-10, shows high protein sequence homology to a barley aleurone-specific cDNA, B11E. The p48h-10-encoded protein shares some common characteristics of plant nonspecific lipid transfer proteins (low molecular weight, the secretion signal peptide, eight conserved cysteine residues, and a basic protein), although no significant protein sequence homology is found between p48-10 and other plant nonspecific lipid transfer proteins. The third group includes those genes whose expression is induced primarily in the induction medium; this indicates that the expression of these genes is closely associated with the process of tracheary element formation. Two of these clones, p48h-107 and p48h-17, show high homology to adenylate kinase and papaya proteinase I, respectively. The possible roles of these differentiation-specific genes during tracheary element formation are discussed.