Figure 2.

Temporal expression analysis. Northern blots of total RNA extracted from male cones during two flowering seasons. Abbreviations for male cones are given in Table I. Needle, root, and shoot data (where presented) are as indicated, and the abbreviations for female cones are as follows: Fc8, female cones 8 months before meiosis; Fc7, female cones 7 months before meiosis; Fc4, female cones 4 months before meiosis. Expression data and transcript size are summarized in Figure 3 and Table II. Loading differences were assessed by probing blots with a 26S rRNA probe as indicated. Note that there is wide variation in the loading of samples between lanes, with some samples underloaded (e.g. T1, Misi); this is the likely cause of the apparent transient down-regulation of genes such as PrLTP1 in T1-stage cones. Faint smears immediately adjacent to lanes containing strongly hybridizing bands (e.g. PrMC104, T1 sample) have been interpreted as noise in the summary in Figure 3.