Genes Controlling Flower Development in Plants - Analyzing Gene Expression with In Situ Hybridization

Analyzing Gene Expression with In Situ Hybridization

The Molecular Expression of Floral Committment Genes

The Molecular Expression of Floral Organ Genes

Analyzing Gene Expression with In Situ Hybridization

The cloning of the floral committment and organ genes next permitted the study of the expression of these genes in the tissues and cells giving rise to the flowers. Typically, northern hybridizations are used to study gene expression. But that is nearly impossible for floral development genes. Northerns require the isolation of mRNA from the specific tissues in which the genes are expected to be expressed. The difficulty with the floral system is that it is essentially impossible to isolate floral meristem mRNA without getting the sample contaminated with inflorescence mRNA. In situ hybridization is an alternative procedure in which you can study cell specific expression. With this procedure, a tissue section is probed with a lableled RNA probe. If the target RNA is present a signal is noted in the target cell or tissue expressing the gene. The expression patterns that are discussed below used in situ hybridization techniques. Visit the Yanofsky in situ hyrbrization site to observe the in situ expression of three genes, APETALA1, CAULIFLOWER, and AGAMOUS.