cDNA array analysis of mercury- and ozone-induced genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

Selected cDNA clones of Arabidopsis thaliana, isolated previously by suppression subtractive hybridisation, were used to differentiate between abiotic stress factors. Changes in expression patterns of 79 genes were examined by array analysis in Arabidopsis thaliana after fumigation with ozone and after short- or long-term mercuric-ion exposure. Substantial changes in the abundance of 42 transcripts were recorded in response to the treatments, and 6 transcript clusters were observed. The abundance of 37 mRNAs was increased more then 1.5-fold, whereas that of 5 mRNAs was reduced. The abundances of 5, 6 and 9 mRNAs were specifically increased by short-term mercury application, ozone fumigation, and long-term mercuric-ion exposure, respectively. The transcription of the other 5 transcripts was induced by both ozone and short-term mercuric-ion treatment. The abundance of 10 different mRNAs was increased by the different mercuric-ion applications. Two transcripts were induced by ozone fumigation, as well as long-term, mercury treatment. Finally, 5 transcripts were repressed by ozone exposure, and 3 out of them by short-term mercuric-ion treatment. These results show that the array technique can be used to analyse the expression pattern in Arabidopsis thaliana under ozone and mercuric-ion stress. Searches against the Arabidopsis database furthermore provide a classification of most genes. In addition possible cis-acting regulatory elements were identified by an in silico approach using the MIPS Arabidopsis thaliana database.