Gene expression profiling in juvenile and mature cuttings of Eucalyptus grandis reveals the importance of microtubule remodeling during adventitious root formation

BACKGROUND: The ability to form adventitious roots (AR) is an economically important trait that is lost during the juvenile-to-mature phase change in woody plants. Auxin treatment, which generally promotes rooting in juvenile cuttings, is often ineffective when applied to mature cuttings. The molecular basis for this phenomenon in Eucalyptus grandis was addressed here. RESULTS: A comprehensive microarray analysis was performed in order to compare gene-expression profiles in juvenile and mature cuttings of E. grandis, with or without auxin treatment on days, 0, 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 post AR induction. Under these conditions AR primordia were formed only in auxin-treated juvenile cuttings. However, clustering the expression profiles revealed that the time after induction contributed more significantly to the differences in expression than the developmental phase of the cuttings or auxin treatment. Most detected differences which were related to the developmental phase and auxin treatment occurred on day 6, which correlated with the kinetics of AR-primordia formation. Among the functional groups of transcripts that differed between juvenile and mature cuttings was that of microtubules (MT). The expression of 42 transcripts annotated as coding for tubulin, MT-associated proteins and kinesin motor proteins was validated in the same RNA samples. The results suggest a coordinated developmental and auxin dependent regulation of several MT-related transcripts in these cuttings. To determine the relevance of MT remodeling to AR formation, MTs were subjected to subtle perturbations by trifluralin, a MT disrupting drug, applied during auxin induction. Juvenile cuttings were not affected by the treatment, but rooting of mature cuttings increased from 10 to more than 40 percent. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that juvenile-specific MT remodeling is involved in AR formation in E. grandis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2164-15-826) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.