Gene Expression during Bud Dormancy Release in Prunus persica

Abstract

To better understand the molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying maintenance and release of seasonal bud dormancy in deciduous trees, we previously made four different libraries enriched in cDNA from dormant buds, dormancy-released buds, and buds from the peach ‘Springlady’ and ‘Zincal-5’, with different chilling requirements. In this work we analyze by RT-PCR the mRNA accumulation of some of these genes and describe the dormancy-dependent expression of two peach genes similar to Arabidopsis VIN3 and FT. As expected, DAM genes showed reduced expression during dormancy release in buds, whereas several peroxidase-like coding genes, among others, were drastically up-regulated after dormancy release. The peach homologues of VIN3 and FT genes increased their expression from November to January, suggesting a link with the vernalization pathway in Arabidopsis.