Identifying Differentially Expressed Genes in Festuca Arundinacea Using a Wheat Affymetrix Gene Chip.

A wheat affymetrix gene chip, which represents 55000 probes and 36000 transcripts was used to examine genes differentially expressed in Festuca arundinacea ‘Falcon’  following glyphosate application. The rates of foliar glyphosate application were 0%, 5% (1.58mM), and 20% (6.32mM) of the recommended application rate for weed control. The comparison of gene expression in this species used and their controls indicated that of the 55000 probe sets, 9.660 transcripts were significantly affected (P<0.001) by glyphosate treatment. Gene annotation of the group identified as being upregulated expression (showed 5 fold change), involved in biotic stress, senescence, metabolic process, membrane or cell wall, photosynthesis/chloroplast and transcription factors. Hierarchical clustering of up and down-regulated transcripts were performed to identify common gene expression patterns. Quantitative Real Time PCR (QRT-PCR) was performed in order to validate representative microarray results and to examine the correlation between the two gene expression profiling methods. A total of 10 primer sets were designed to amplify fragments representing probe sets on the Affymetrix GeneChip. The microarray and QRT-PCR profiles were closely related.