Monitoring of gene expression profiles and identification of candidate genes involved in drought responses in Festuca mairei.

To understand the molecular genetic basis underlying drought tolerance in grasses, the cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) technique was applied for identification of genes responding to drought stress in a xerophytic adapted plant, Festuca mairei. A total of 11,346 transcript derived fragments (TDFs) were detected, and 464 (4.1%) TDFs were identified as differentially expressed fragments (DEFs) during the drought treatment of the plant.

Detection of an efficient restriction enzyme combination for cDNA-AFLP analysis in Festuca mairei and evaluation of the identity of transcript-derived fragments.

In cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) analysis, it is critical to choose a suitable pair of restriction enzymes for tagging sites in cDNA for amplification. Possibility of production of chimeric fragments from cDNA-AFLP analysis remains to be researched. The objectives of this study were to detect an efficient restriction enzyme combination for cDNA-AFLP analysis when Festuca species was used as template, and to evaluate the identity of transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) from cDNA-AFLP analysis.