Since no prior sequence or other molecular information was available for beech, two new subtracted beech libraries have been made and characterised for constructing the beech cDNA array. Subtraction resulted in libraries enriched for genes related to active growth or dormancy/cold hardiness, respectively. Both libraries had excellent properties to serve as starting point for a small beech array. 364 clones were selected to be spotted on the array. In making this selection we ensured that representatives from all major functional groups were present, including metabolism, energy, cell cycle and DNA processing, transcription, protein synthesis, protein destination, cellular communication/signal transduction mechanism, stress response, control of cellular organization and transport facilitation. In addition more than 50% of the spots represent 'unknowns'. Since not much sequence data is available form beech, many of the genes we isolated produced no reliable hit in the BLAST search. Supplemented with positive, negative and technical controls this resulted in a highly dedicated array of 384 spots.
The array can be used to dissect biological processes occurring in beech. The primary use will be for stress related or bud development related processes. The array can be used for scientific purposes or for the selection of indicator genes that can serve as content for molecular diagnostic assays. To our knowledge this is the first dedicated array for beech seedling bud tissue.