Identification and quantitative expression of cytokinin regulatory genes during seed and leaf development in wheat

Abstract

Cytokinins are intimately involved in plant growth and development and their concentration is known to change dramatically during early stages of seed development. We propose that the concentration of active cytokinin may be coordinately regulated by specific member(s) of the multi-gene families encoding biosynthesis (isopentenyl transferase, IPT), catabolism (cytokinin oxidase, CKX), and metabolism (zeatin glucosyltransferases (ZOG) and β-glucosidase (GLU)) genes. Our qRT-PCR data for 22 putative genes showed that the expression patterns of individual members of the Triticum aestivum (Ta)IPTs, TaCKXs, TaZOGs, and TaGLUs multi-gene families were tissue and development specific during seed and flag leaf development, with up to 90-fold changes in mRNA level. Key genes that may be involved in seed yield determination have been identified. Keywords: Wheat, flag leaf, cytokinin genes, quantitative expression, qRT-PCR