Auxin enhances grafting success in Carya cathayensis (Chinese hickory).

MAIN CONCLUSION: Application of auxin to root stock and scion increases the success rate of grafting in Chinese hickory. The nuts of the Chinese hickory (Carya cathayensis) tree are considered both delicious and healthy. The popularity and high demand result is that the hickory nuts are of very high economical value for horticulture. This is particularly true for the Zhejiang province in eastern China where this tree is widely cultivated. However, there are several difficulties surrounding the hickory cultivation, such as for example long vegetative growth, tall trees, labour-intensive nut picking, and slow variety improvements. These complications form a great bottleneck in the expansion of the hickory industry. The development of an efficient grafting procedure could surpass at least some of these problems. In this study, we demonstrate that application of the auxin indole-3-acetic acid promotes the grafting process in hickory, whereas application of the auxin transport inhibitor 1-N-naphthylphthalamic acid inhibits the grafting process. Furthermore, we have identified hickory genes in the PIN, ABCB, and AUX/LAX-families known to encode influx and efflux carriers in the polar transport of auxin. We show that increased expression of several of these genes, such as CcPIN1b and CcLAX3, is correlating with successful grafting.

Gene expression of halophyte Kosteletzkya virginica seedlings under salt stress at early stage.

Gene differential expression of Kosteletzkya virginica seedlings under salt stress at two time points (2, 24 h) in roots and leaves was analyzed using the cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) technique. Polymorphic transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) among control plants and salt-treated plants were grouped into four main differential expression patterns: repression (A), de novo induction (B), up-regulation (C) and down-regulation (D). Among them, 34 differentially expressed gene fragments were homologous to known genes from other species and 4 were sequences with unknown functions. These differentially expressed genes can be classified into four groups according to their putative functions: (1) genes for re-establishing ion homeostasis and protecting the plant from stress damage; (2) genes involved in metabolism or energy and resuming plant growth and development under salt stress; (3) genes involved in regulation of gene expression; (4) genes for signal transduction. Changes of eight differentially expressed genes were confirmed by quantitative real time RT-PCR.

[Analysis of gene expression involved in the response to salt stress in the dicot halophyte Kosteletzkya virginica L. seedlings].

Kosteletzkya virginica L. Presl. is an obligate wetland species indigenous to southeastern US. Its niche in salt marsh foretells its high salinity tolerance. cDNA-AFLP technique was used to identify the gene transcriptional profiles of leaves and roots from K. virginica seedlings under salt stress in order to clarify the molecular architecture of stress tolerance in the dicot halophyte. Expression analysis over time intervals and under various salt stresses in leaves or roots showed that the quantitatively expressed pattern (in which genes were quantitatively up- or down-regulated under salt stress or fluctuate with different NaCl concentrations) was more prevalent than the qualitatively expressed pattern (in which genes were induced or silenced under salt stress) in K. virginica seedlings under salt stress. The qualitative pattern was appreciably more predominant than the quantitative one only in roots when exposed to salt stress for 2 h. Although each expression pattern was observed in leaves as well as in roots, the percentage of genes (i.e., up-/down-regulated or induced/silenced under salt stress) was dynamically changeable under salt stress at different time intervals. All these results indicated that there was no established formula of gene expression patterns in deciphering the sophisticated mechanism of plant salinity tolerance, considering that plants undergo a series of dynamically physiological and metabolic pathways in sensing and response to salt stress for different tissues and during different stages of stress. A number of Trivially distributed file system (TDFs) up-regulated or induced under salt stress from leaves and roots were sequenced, and the sequences were blasted against the NCBI non-redundant protein database using translated nucleotide query (Blastx). The TDFs from K. virginica seedlings involved in sensing and response to salt stress can be classified at least into three groups according to their putative functions: (1) genes for re-establishing ionic homeostasis or preventing from damage (specially genes for transporter); (2) genes for resuming plant growth and development under salt stress, such as key enzymes involved in energy synthesis or hormone regulatory pathway; (3) genes for signal transduction and so on. The relationship of expression patterns of these TDFs with the molecular mechanism of salt tolerance in K. virginica was discussed.