Melampsora larici-populina gene expression in different tissues of uredinia

Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) was used for expression analysis of three contrasted fungal tissues of uredinia corresponding respectively to spores and sporogenous hyphae, fungal structures in the spongy mesophyll and fungal infection structures in the palisade mesophyll. The array probes were designed from gene models taken from the Joint Genome Institute (JGI, Department of Energy) Melampsora larici-populina genome sequence version 1. The aim of this study was to identify tissue-specific gene expression to gain insights into the genes specifically associated with the biotrophic phase and the sporulation phase of the rust fungus. We performed 9 hybridizations (NimbleGen) with samples derived from Laser Capture Microdissection (LCM) of three contrasted fungal tissues of uredinia, corresponding respectively to spores and sporogenous hyphae, fungal structures in the spongy mesophyll and fungal infection structures in the palisade mesophyll. Three replicates per tissue. All samples were labeled with Cy3.