Figure 5.

Differential expression of PEPC genes in rice seeds and seedlings. Rice seeds were allowed to germinate for 5 d and aleurone layer (A) and scutellum (Sc) were dissected. Roots (R) and shoots (Sh) were dissected from 5-day-old seedlings. Total RNA was extracted from these tissues and from mature seeds (MS) and analyzed by relative quantitative RT-PCR using gene-specific primers in the presence of 18S rRNA primers and competimers. Experiments were repeated at least three times obtaining similar results. The expected sizes of the bands corresponding to the different transcripts are: Osppc1, 196 bp; Osppc2, 121 bp; Osppc-b, 165 bp; and rRNA, 315 bp, as indicated on the left. Ethidium bromide-stained bands were quantified with the ScionImage software and compared with the corresponding rRNA band. The highest value in each analysis was arbitrarily considered as 100%.