Differential gene expression of tropical pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) bush mutant during internode development

This report described the identification of differentially expressed genes during internode development of a near-isogenic bush mutant of Cucurbita moschata Duchesne (C. moschata) derived from a cultivar of 'Cga' using cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) technique. Seventy transcript-derived fragments (TDFs) were identified. Fifty-eight TDFs have been successfully sequenced and identified. BLAST searching revealed that 30 TDFs were highly homologous to genes with known function. Among them are genes involved in metabolism and energy, stress and defense, cell wall biosynthesis or modification, as well as genes encoding transcription factor and signal transduction. Four of these sequences have been shown to be differentially expressed between bush and vine plants of C. moschata as well as different tissues using reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) analysis. Complete cosegregation of the RT-PCR product with the appropriate phenotype also suggested that the four TDFs were bush related genes in C. moschata. Overall, the study's findings will provide some insights into genetic and molecular understanding of the bush phenotype in C. moschata. This in turn could provide some insight into the regulation of plant stature in horticultural plants.