Poplar flowering and maturation GeneXp arrays

To identify candidate genes involved in maturation and flowering, we conducted microarray expression studies using two poplar genotypes (Populus trichocarpa x P. deltoides hybrids) represented in continuous age gradients of one to six years. We designed 70-mers for 228 poplar genes and microarray studies were carried out using the microplate-based 96-well BioGridArray platform (GeneXP Biosciences). Floral buds, vegetative buds and shoot tips were collected at different seasonal time points from juvenile and adult trees and from both basal and upper branches of mature trees. Keywords: Maturation and Flowering The experiment was carried out using the microplate-based 96-well BioGridArray platform (GeneXP Biosciences). Each of 228 oligonucletides were duplicated in each well. Two human genes, beta-actin and gapdh , were also printed on all arrays as negative controls. plus ten arabidopsis oligonucleotides selected by GeneXP and used to measure quality of hybridization. For each of 16 samples, two seperate RNA isolations were performed and were considered as biological replicates. Each biological replicate was labeled with Cy5, and hybridized to duplicated wells.