Integrative Analysis of Transcriptomic and Methylomic Data in Photoperiod-Dependent Regulation of Cucumber Sex Expression

G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics

article

Yun-Song Lai¹  Wei Zhang¹  Xiaohui Zhang¹  Di Shen¹  Haiping Wang¹  Yang Qiu¹  Jiangping Song¹  Xixiang Li¹ 

[1] Institute of Vegetables and Flowers, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China;Institute of Pomology & Olericulture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611180, China

关键词: Cucumber;    Photoperiod;    Sex expression;    DNA methylation;    Transcriptome;   

DOI  :  10.1534/g3.118.200755

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Genetics Society of America

【 摘 要 】

The cucumber ( Cucumis sativus ) is characterized by its diversity and seasonal plasticity in sexual type. A long day length condition significantly decreased the cucumber female flower ratio by 17.7–52.9%, and the effect of photoperiod treatment is more significant under low temperature than under high temperature. Transcriptome analysis indicates that the photoperiod treatment preferentially significantly influenced flower development processes, particularly MADS-box genes in shoot apices. The long-day treatment resulted in predominantly transposable element (TE)- and gene-associated CHH-types of DNA methylation changes. Nevertheless, there was significant enrichment of CG- and CHG-types of DNA methylation changes nearing transcription start sites (TSSs)/transcription end sites (TESs) and gene bodies, respectively. Predominantly negative association between differentially methylated regions (DMRs) and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were observed which implied epiregulation of DEGs. Two MADS-box genes that were significantly downregulated by long photoperiod showed significant hypermethylation in promoter regions that is essentially TE-rich. This study indicates MADS-box genes which are partially regulated by promoter methylation state may mediate photoperiod-dependent regulation of cucumber sex expression.

【 授权许可】

CC BY|CC BY-NC