Zea mays Transcriptome or Gene expression. Zea mays

Smoke released from burning vegetation functions as an important environmental signal promoting the germination of many plant species following a fire . It not only promotes the germination of species from fire-prone habitats, but several species from non-fire-prone areas also respond, including some crops. Bioactivity-guided fractionation of smoke-water led to the identification of a highly active butenolide compound, 3-methyl-2H-furo[2,3-c]pyran-2-one. Several hypotheses have arisen regarding the molecular background of smoke and butenolide action. Contrary to the efforts to unravel the mode of action of smoke, the mechanism is still largely unknown. In this paper we demonstrate that although smoke-water and butenolide treatment of maize kernels results in a similar physiological response, the gene and protein expression patterns are quite different. Treatment with smoke-water enhanced the ubiquitination of proteins and activated protein-degradation-related genes. This effect was completely absent from butenolide-treated kernels, in which a specific aquaporin gene was distinctly upregulated. These findings indicate that other bioactive compounds present in smoke-water may act together, leading to accelerated protein turnover. The results highlight the importance of protein degradation and aquaporins in the seed germination process. Besides their obvious use in the sustainable agricultural practice, smoke and butenolide can be used in studies to gain further insight into the transcriptional changes during germination. Overall design: 15 individual kernels from each of six biological replicates were chosen and equal amount of the aaRNA samples were pooled. Three technical replicates were applied at each time point for the microarray analysis. For the control versus butenolide experiment the samples were collected at 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 hours after treatment. For the control versus smoke experiment the samples were collected at 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24 and 27 hours after treatment. For the delayed experiment samples were collected after 3 or 6 hours after treatment.