Comparative transcriptional profiling of organs of the barley spike

The lemma, the palea and the awn of a barley spike are photosynthetic organs and supply the developing seed with carbohydrates. In addition, the lemma and the palea cover the seed and protect it from pathogens and insects. In this study, we compared gene expression among the lemma, the palea, the awn and the developing seed of barley at the grain-filling stage (Zadok scale 83) using the Barley1 Genome Array in order to identify genes that determine the primary function of these organs.

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