Subgroup 4 R2R3-MYBs in conifer trees: gene family expansion and contribution to the isoprenoid- and flavonoid-oriented responses. by Bedon, F, Bomal, C, Caron, S, Levasseur, C, Boyle, B, Mansfield, S, Schmidt, A, Gershenzon, J, Grima-Pettenati, J, Séguin, A, Mackay, J

“…Several R2R3-MYB genes of the Arabidopsis subgroup 4 (Sg4) share a C-terminal EAR motif signature recently linked to stress response in angiosperm plants. It is reported here that nearly all Sg4 MYB genes in the conifer trees Picea glauca (white spruce) and Pinus taeda (loblolly pine) form a monophyletic clade (Sg4C) that expanded following the split of gymnosperm and angiosperm lineages. …”

Identification of conserved core xylem gene sets: conifer cDNA microarray development, transcript profiling and computational analyses. by Pavy, N, Boyle, B, Nelson, C, Paule, C, Giguère, I, Caron, S, Parsons, L, Dallaire, N, Bedon, F, Bérubé, H, Cooke, J, Mackay, J

“…The functional annotations of all differentially expressed sequences were highly consistent with the results of similar analyses carried out in angiosperm trees and herbaceous plants. Computational analyses comparing the spruce microarray sequences and core xylem gene sets from Arabidopsis identified 31 transcripts that were highly conserved in angiosperms and gymnosperms, in terms of both sequence and xylem expression. …”

A white spruce gene catalog for conifer genome analyses. by Rigault, P, Boyle, B, Lepage, P, Cooke, J, Bousquet, J, MacKay, J

“…Several angiosperm plant genomes, including Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), rice (Oryza sativa), poplar (Populus trichocarpa), and grapevine (Vitis vinifera), have been sequenced, but the lack of reference genomes in gymnosperm phyla reduces our understanding of plant evolution and restricts the potential impacts of genomics research. …”

SABATH methyltransferases from white spruce (Picea glauca): gene cloning, functional characterization and structural analysis. by Zhao, N, Boyle, B, Duval, I, Ferrer, J, Lin, H, Seguin, A, Mackay, J, Chen, F

“…While all previously characterized SABATH genes were isolated from angiosperms, in this article, we report on the isolation and functional characterization of SABATH genes from white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss), a gymnosperm. …”

Transcriptome profiling in conifers and the PiceaGenExpress database show patterns of diversification within gene families and interspecific conservation in vascular gene expressio... by Raherison, E, Rigault, P, Caron, S, Poulin, P, Boyle, B, Verta, J, Giguère, I, Bomal, C, Bohlmann, J, Mackay, J

“…In conifer trees, dehydrins and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) osmotic regulation proteins occur in large gene families compared to angiosperms. Strong contrasts and low diversity was observed in the dehydrin family, while diverse patterns suggested a greater degree of diversification among LEAs. …”