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BbrizAGL6 Is Differentially Expressed During Embryo Sac Formation of Apomictic and Sexual Brachiaria brizantha Plants

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Abstract

Species of the genus Brachiaria comprise plants with different modes of reproduction, sexual and apomictic. In apomixis, the embryo sac differentiates from an unreduced cell, and the embryo develops in the absence of egg cell fertilisation. In this work, the characterisation and expression analyses of a MADS-box gene from Brachiaria brizantha, named BbrizAGL6, was described in sexual and apomictic plants. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that BbrizAGL6 belongs to the AGL6-like subfamily of proteins and clusters together with the AGL6-like protein of other monocots. BbrizAGL6 and AGL6 show conservation of the protein complex. Furthermore, BbrizAGL6 expressed preferentially in reproductive tissues and corresponding transcripts were detected in anthers and ovules. In ovules of B. brizantha, where the main differences among sexual and apomictic reproduction occur, BbrizAGL6 was differentially modulated. Transcripts of BbrizAGL6 were localised in the megaspore mother cell of ovaries from apomictic and sexual plants and, additionally, in the region where aposporic initial cells differentiate, in the nucellus of apomictic plants. For the first time, a role of an AGL6-like gene in megasporogenesis of apomictic and sexual plants is suggested.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge Ana L.M. Lacerda and Andrea D. Koehler for technical help in RNA extraction and Flávia S. Ferreira for dissecting ovaries. This work was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development-CNPq (490749/2008-9–VTCC) and the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation-Embrapa (0209020010.000- VTCC). This work is part of LAG’s PhD thesis from Pós-Graduação em Biologia Molecular, University of Brasilia-UnB, Brazil, with a partial fellowship from CNPq and Embrapa. CNPq also provided a 1-year fellowship for LAG at Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy.

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  1. Embrapa Recursos Genéticos e Biotecnologia, Parque Estação Biológica, PqEB-Av. W5 Norte (final), Caixa Postal 02372, 70770-917, Brasília, DF, Brazil

    Larissa Arrais Guimarães, Diva Maria de A. Dusi, Ana Cristina M. M. Gomes, Érica Duarte Silveira, Lilian Hasegawa Florentino, Júlio Carlyle M. Rodrigues & Vera Tavares de C. Carneiro

  2. Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, S/N-Asa Norte, Brasília, DF, 70910-900, Brazil

    Larissa Arrais Guimarães & Vera Tavares de C. Carneiro

  3. Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 26, 20133, Milan, Italy

    Simona Masiero, Francesca Resentini & Lucia Colombo

  4. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Pontificia Universidad Catolica, Av. Alicia Moreau de Justo 1300, C1107AAZ, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Érica Duarte Silveira

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  1. Larissa Arrais Guimarães
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  2. Diva Maria de A. Dusi
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  5. Ana Cristina M. M. Gomes
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  10. Vera Tavares de C. Carneiro
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Correspondence to Vera Tavares de C. Carneiro.

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Guimarães, L.A., de A. Dusi, D.M., Masiero, S. et al. BbrizAGL6 Is Differentially Expressed During Embryo Sac Formation of Apomictic and Sexual Brachiaria brizantha Plants. Plant Mol Biol Rep 31, 1397–1406 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-013-0618-8

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