Identification of cadmium-induced genes in maize seedlings by suppression subtractive hybridization

A maize variety,Huatian-1,had an unusuallylow translocation rate of cadmium(Cd)(59.6 mg·kg^(-1)inthe roots and 0.093 mg·kg^(-1)in the grain)compared to24 other varieties while being grown in soils with16.50 mg·kg^(-1)Cd.This indicates that this particularspecies may have special mechanisms that affect theabsorption and translocation pattern of Cd.In this paper,the technique of suppression subtractive hybridization(SSH)was used to isolate and identify Cd-induced genesfrom Huatian-1 hydroponically exposed to 0.1mMCdCl_(2) for 1 h,12 h,24 h,and 48 h.We found a total of15 differentially expressed genes in the four groups;2,3,4,and 6 genes were from the groups of 1 h,12 h,24 h,and48 h treatment,respectively.Phospholipase PLDb1mRNA,adenosine triphosphate(ATP)phosphoribosyltransferase 2,and Sp17 were turned on in the maize inresponse to Cd stress,and it might provide new clues toexplain the mechanism of maize tolerance to Cd.