RNA in situ hybridization in plants

Abstract

In situ hybridization of nucleic acid probes to mRNA was developed as a method to examine differences in gene expression in closely associated tissues within a developing or mature organ. In situ hybridization has been widely used in studies of gene expression during embryo and organ development in mammals, insects, plants and other organisms [ 1, 2, 6–9, 11, 13–16]. These studies include the spatial expression of genes regulating embryo development, such as homeotic genes in mammals and insects [8]. In plants, where organ systems develop at meristems throughout the life of the plant, in situ hybridization has been used to examine genes with different spatial expression patterns in floral, seed and leaf development [6–8,11,14–16]. In situ hybridization has also been useful in examining the tissue-specific expression of constitutively expressed genes in mature organ systems and the spatial expression of inducible genes following a given stimulus. These studies have been useful in understanding the function of gene products in specific tissues and the relation between tissue function and its place in the complex structure of an organ or system of organs. In plant biotechnology, characterization of expression patterns associated with specific genes has also been useful in defining promoters to direct the expression of foreign genes in specific plant tissues in transgenic plants.