Gene expression analysis in female inflorescences of Corylus avellana L.

The aim of this research was to analyze gene expression in the female inflorescences of hazelnut in order to identify genes that could be involved in flower development and in the sporophytic incompatibility mechanism. Two developmental stages of female inflorescences were compared by Differential Display technique: before style emergence and at full bloom (fully expanded styles, receptive but not pollinated stigmas). The results allowed to isolate 5 full-length sequences encoding for a class III peroxidase, an obtusifoliol-14-alpha-demethylase, a selenoprotein O homologue, a QM protein and a protein with Phi-1 domain. Moreover three partial sequences were isolated, encoding for two kinase protein and a thioredoxin domain-containing protein. The isolated sequences are being studied to check their expression in different tissues and developmental stages of the style.