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Comparative transcriptome analysis of gynoecious and monoecious inflorescences reveals regulators involved in male flower development in the woody perennial plant Jatropha curcas

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ABCE model genes along with genes related to GA biosynthesis and auxin signalling may play significant roles in male flower development in Jatropha curcas.

Abstract

Flowering plants exhibit extreme reproductive diversity. Jatropha curcas, a woody plant that is promising for biofuel production, is monoecious. Here, two gynoecious Jatropha mutants (bearing only female flowers) were used to identify key genes involved in male flower development. Using comparative transcriptome analysis, we identified 17 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in floral organ development between monoecious plants and the two gynoecious mutants. Among these DEGs, five floral organ identity genes, Jatropha AGAMOUS, PISTILLATA, SEPALLATA 2-1 (JcSEP2-1), JcSEP2-2, and JcSEP3, were downregulated in ch mutant inflorescences; two gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis genes, Jatropha GA REQUIRING 1 and GIBBERELLIN 3-OXIDASE 1, were downregulated in both the ch and g mutants; and two genes involved in the auxin signalling pathway, Jatropha NGATHA1 and STYLISH1, were downregulated in the ch mutant. Furthermore, four hub genes involved in male flower development, namely Jatropha SOMATIC EMBRYOGENESIS RECEPTOR-LIKE KINASE 1, CRYPTOCHROME 2, SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CO 1 and JAGGED, were identified using weighted gene correlation network analysis. These results suggest that floral organ identity genes and genes involved in GA biosynthesis and auxin signalling may participate in male flower development in Jatropha. This study will contribute to understanding sex differentiation in woody perennial plants.

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Availability of data and material

RNA-Seq data from ch and WT samples were deposited in China National GeneBank under the accession number CNP0000603 (https://db.cngb.org/search/project/CNP0000603/). RNA-Seq data from three g samples were deposited under accession numbers SRR4473569, SRR4473570 and SRR4473575 (Chen et al. 2014). Transcriptome sequences used for differential expression analysis of genes are listed in Supplementary file S9.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31670612, 3197141078, 31370595, and 31971628), the Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (kfj-brsn-2018-6-008), and the CAS 135 program (2017XTBG-T02). The authors gratefully acknowledge the Central Laboratory of the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden for research facilities. The authors would like to thank Springer Nature Author Services (SNAS) for the English language editing.

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Correspondence to Mao-Sheng Chen or Zeng-Fu Xu.

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Communicated by Zhenbiao Yang.

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Zhao, ML., Chen, MS., Ni, J. et al. Comparative transcriptome analysis of gynoecious and monoecious inflorescences reveals regulators involved in male flower development in the woody perennial plant Jatropha curcas. Plant Reprod 33, 191–204 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00497-020-00396-8

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