Zea mays Transcriptome or Gene expression. Zea mays

This study compared the transcriptomes of maize anthers at both 1mm and 1.5mm lengths from male sterile mutants with either the am1-489 or am1-pra alleles as well as from fertile siblings of the mutant plants. Comparisons were done varying just the stage (1mm vs 1.5 mm), just the allele (am1-pra vs am1-489 at the same stage), and wild-type vs mutant (same stage and allele). Genes were categorized as On (expressed) or Off (not detected) and if both channels produced an intensity, the differential expression was determined. AM1 seems to be involved in establishing or stabilizing meiotic chromosomes and it had a profound impact on gene expression in the pollen mother cells during the maturation phase from 1.0 to 1.5 mm anther length. The two alleles shared some transcript changes but am1-489 showed a more dramatic loss (>3400) at 1.5mm than am1-pra. Most differentially expressed transcripts were allele-specific. KEYWORDS: male sterility, maize, microarray, meiosis Overall design: Compared wild-type and male-sterile anthers from 2 ameiotic1 alleles at 2 stages of anther growth (1mm and 1.5mm)