Nasrin moshtaghi; Robab Ghahremanzadeh; Seyyed Hasan Marashi
Abstract
Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is an indigenous and the most valuable and marginal plant in Iran. However,
limited knowledge exists on its molecular biology. The importance of this plant is due to the color, flavor and
medicinal properties of its red stigmas. Saffron stigmas contain a high amount of carotenoids ...
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Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is an indigenous and the most valuable and marginal plant in Iran. However,
limited knowledge exists on its molecular biology. The importance of this plant is due to the color, flavor and
medicinal properties of its red stigmas. Saffron stigmas contain a high amount of carotenoids such as crocetin
and crocin. Two genes, bch and pds, have essential role in carotenoid production. In this study, the effect of
four different irrigation regimes was evaluated on the expression of bch and pds genes. Semi-quantitative RTPCR
showed no significant difference in the expression levels of genes of interest related to the internal
standard (18S rRNA). Results of Real-Time PCR assays showed that the expression of bch and pds genes were
affected by irrigation treatments as their expression decreased in irrigated plants in comparison to non irrigated
ones, exept for one irrigation treatment (one irrigation in September) where the pds gene expression showed
higher level. However, the expression profile of the genes was almost the same in all treatments. The
comparison between results of two techniques indicated that the Real-Time PCR is more accurate for
determination of the level of transcript in the Iranian saffron. It was interesting that by decreasing of irrigation,
the expression level of these two genes increased indicating that abiotic stress and drought can affect on the
gene expression relating to the saffron color.
