Nature Genetics：绘成水稻遗传特性细胞图谱

作者：王韵壹、李英、熊慧卿

耶鲁大学的研究者绘制了水稻遗传特性的细胞图谱，非常详细地说明了在活体生物体内细胞中基因的开关时间。研究结果发表在2009年1月4日的《自然—遗传学》（Nature Genetics）上。

在为期5年的研究工作中，产生了海量数据，记录了世界上最重要的水稻的生命周期中关键的40种不同细胞的差异和相似性。分子、细胞和发育生物学教授Timothy Nelson说：“所有的谷物都会从这张图谱提供的知识及其衍生出来的工具而收益。例如，科学家希望能从其中发现负责光合作用的基因网络，这有助于提高食品和生物质能源的产量。”

这个图谱是由细胞的特殊转录组所组成的，大量的资料组很好的注释了水稻30000种基因中，每一种的相对活性及其对应的细胞类型。研究中涉及的40个转录组可以在40中细胞中对每个基因的活性进行比对，包括根、茎和胚芽的不同发育时期的细胞。最后，耶鲁大学的研究团队希望能再增加40种不同类型细胞的数据，并在网上发布，供全世界的研究者使用。

Nelson说，“这种图谱为研究人员提供了一种很独特的资源——关于不同细胞中基因与基因的关系，如何产生组织、器官和是全株植物发挥功能的可以为人们所理解的数据。许多重要类型细胞非常难以收集，因此对图谱的解读也是在技术上取得的一项重要成就。

图谱的数据可以帮助研究者区分在细胞的不同阶段中起作用的基因、提供确定基因在机体形成中所扮演角色的线索，另外科学家还可以找出关键的持家基因——那些在所有细胞整个周期中都起关键作用的基因。这些数据是深层发掘任何基因或者生物学过程中细胞信息的重要资源。（生物谷Bioon.com）

生物谷推荐原始出处：

Nature Genetics，doi:10.1038/ng.282，Yuling Jiao，Timothy Nelson

A transcriptome atlas of rice cell types uncovers cellular, functional and developmental hierarchies

Yuling Jiao1,3,4, S Lori Tausta1,4, Neeru Gandotra1,4, Ning Sun2,4, Tie Liu1,3,4, Nicole K Clay1,3, Teresa Ceserani1,3, Meiqin Chen1,3, Ligeng Ma1,3, Matthew Holford2, Hui-yong Zhang1,3, Hongyu Zhao2, Xing-Wang Deng1 & Timothy Nelson1

The functions of the plant body rely on interactions among distinct and nonequivalent cell types. The comparison of transcriptomes from different cell types should expose the transcriptional networks that underlie cellular attributes and contributions. Using laser microdissection and microarray profiling, we have produced a cell type transcriptome atlas that includes 40 cell types from rice (Oryza sativa) shoot, root and germinating seed at several developmental stages, providing patterns of cell specificity for individual genes and gene classes. Cell type comparisons uncovered previously unrecognized properties, including cell-specific promoter motifs and coexpressed cognate binding factor candidates, interaction partner candidates and hormone response centers. We inferred developmental regulatory hierarchies of gene expression in specific cell types by comparison of several stages within root, shoot and embryo.

1 Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA, and Peking-Yale Joint Research Center of Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
2 Center for Statistical Genomics and Proteomics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
3 Present addresses: Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA (Y.J.); Biology Department, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA (T.L.); Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA (N.K.C.); Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada (T.C.); Peking-Yale Joint Research Center of Plant Molecular Genetics and Agrobiotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China (M.C.); National Institute of Biological Sciences, Zhongguancun Life Science Park, Beijing 102206, China (L.M. and H.-Y.Z.).
4 These authors contributed equally to this work.