Abstract
It is well known that bamboo shoot elongates rapidly. We have already analyzed gene expression during bamboo shoot elongation with the rice microarray system. These results revealed that the lower part of bamboo shoot culm (LPC) was highly active than the upper part of culm, leaf and shoot. Especially, in LPC the expression of sugar metabolism related genes was very interesting. We have cloned two Sucrose synthase genes, SS31 and SS12. Both genes were strongly expressed in LPC, but in other tissues expression level was different. Cellulose synthase gene and UDP-gulcuronic acid decarboxylase gene were also strongly expressed in LPC. Comparison of the sucrose content in each tissues revealed that sucrose content in LPC was less than the upper part of culm and shoot reverse proportion to the expression of sucrose synthase gene. We discuss a correlation between bamboo shoot elongation and sugar metabolism related genes.
