Comparative Analysis of Expressed Sequence Tags from Picea abies L. to Identify Dormancy Regulation-Implicated Genes in the Apical Meristem

The molecular basis of the plant meristem’s dormancy-release is a sophisticated process and poorly understood. To find genes related to the release of the dormancy of the P. abies apical meristem, an expressed sequence tag analysis was used. The preliminary data for two cDNA libraries was gathered using the Harvard University database (Dormancy and dormancy-release libraries with 6987 and 6981 EST, respectively). The EGassembler software was used to assemble all EST sequences in order to find similarity between two libraries. After that, all contigs were processed using CLC bio software’s X-blast against a non-redundant protein database. To detect genes with differential expression in two libraries, the IDEG6 software and the Audic-Claverie test were utilized. The GoMapMan comparative classification tool was used to categorize functional catalogs. All unigenes were grouped into 35 functional catalogs, of which 10 significantly different functional catalogs were identified, including major CHO metabolism, hormone metabolism, stress, transport, secondary metabolism, cofactors and vitamins, nucleotide metabolism, redox-regulation, mitochondrial electron transport/ATP synthesis, and fermentation. So far, there has been no report on the role of secondary metabolites in regulating plant meristem dormancy. This study provides insight into the probable function of secondary metabolites as major regulators of the apical meristem’s dormancy in P. abies. In addition, redox and epigenetic changes downstream of hormones also appear to be involved in dormancy regulation. The potential of ROS specificity in terms of the spatio-temporal properties that characterize the expression of antioxidant enzymes allows them to be used as biomarkers in major developmental stages to develop a set of features in woody species that promote growth, wood, and fiber attributes. This research also provides information about the molecular mechanisms of the morphogenesis process in Norway spruce.