Transcriptional profiling of UV-B response of Populus alba.. Populus alba

Microarray technology was used to assess transcriptome changes in poplar (Populus alba L.) under a realistic simulation of increased UV-B radiation. Plants were UV-Bbe (UV-B biologically effective radiation) supplemented with a dose of 6 kJ/m2/day for 12 hours per day and allowed to recover during the night. Poplar plants were UV-B treated using a refined controlled environment able to guarantee a realistic simulation of natural conditions, especially for light parameters such as presence of background UV-B radiation for control plants and balanced PAR/UV-A/UV-B ratio. A time course experiment was planned to look both at the rapid and delayed response of poplar to UVB; two time points after 3 h (T3h) and 30 h (6th hour of the third day of treatment, T30h) were considered. 4 independent biological replicates were analysed for each time point. Competitive hybridisations were carried out using the PICME 28K microarray. Keywords: Time course experiment, stress response Overall design: Two condition experiment: UVB supplemented plants vs normal UV-B level plants. Biological replicates: 4 UVB suplemented plants, 4 control plants, two time points, one replicate per array. Dye swap between replicates.