Abstract
Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica), a major species forestry in Japan, attracts a great deal of attention as a carbon sink to cope with global warming. Since photosynthesis plays important role in carbon capture and storage, its mechanism is desire to be investigate. To elucidate light-response mechanisms of photosynthesis in Japanese cedar, Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH) and qRT-PCR were used to detect differences of gene expression between the day and night. Most of photosynthesis-related genes showed no difference in expression level between the two periods (e.g. Lhca4, PRK, PetC). A statistical analysis indicated significant differences in some genes (e.g. rbcL, ChlL, PsaB), however, the ratios of expression level were no more than 2-fold. Results of SSH indicated that genes function in cell organization and biogenesis, and kinase activity were expressed at higher level in the night, but showed no difference in photosynthesis-related except aldolase. Since most of photosynthesis-related genes are light-responsive in other higher plants, regulation of the gene transcription estimated to be specific to Japanese cedar.
