Molecular cloning and expression of PdP40, a flower specific class III peroxidase gene in almond

Abstract

A fundamental issue of plant molecular biology is to understand the relationship between dormancy and flowering processes, but it is also of practical interest in agriculture and breeding. Knowing the molecular basis of the control of flowering allows us to develop efficient selection tools, as molecular markers. To investigate the genes involved in the dormancy breaking of flower buds, a candidate transcript was cloned and its expression was analysed by qPCR in flower buds of two almond (Prunus dulcis) cultivars including ‘Desmayo Largueta’ (extra-early flowering) and ‘Penta’ (extra-late flowering). The candidate transcript has been described as a PEROXIDASE 40 gene from a flower specific Class III peroxidase family. The full-length cDNA clone, designated PdP40, was isolated using 3’-RACE strategy with primers from peach (Prunus persica) sequences. Expression results highlight an important increase of transcript levels of this gene before breaking dormancy, in both extra-early and extra-late flowering cultivars assayed. This suggests the important role of this kind of peroxidases in this process, and the possibility to use them as expression markers for predicting dormancy release in the field.