Whole-transcriptome analyses identify key differentially expressed mRNAs, lncRNAs, and miRNAs associated with male sterility in watermelon

Frontiers in Plant Science

Plant Science

Ruimin Zhang¹  Feishi Luan²  Xiaona Pan³  Zhen Yue³  Yong Zhang³  Xiaoyao Chen³  Jiayue Li³  Hao Li³  Fengfei Si³  Xin Li³  Jianxiang Ma³  Jianqiang Yang³  Yinjie Hou³  Li Yuan³  Lijuan Yin³  Chunhua Wei³  Xian Zhang⁴  Wenfeng Huang⁵ 

[1] College of Horticulture Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, Shandong, China;College of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, Heilongjiang, China;State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China;State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology in Arid Areas, College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China;State Key Laboratory of Vegetable Germplasm Innovation, Tianjin, China;Vegetable Research Institute of Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Haikou, Hainan, China;

关键词: watermelon;    male sterility;    lncRNAs;    miRNAs;    regulatory network;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpls.2023.1138415

 received in 2023-01-05, accepted in 2023-02-08,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Male sterility is a valuable trait for watermelon breeding, as watermelon hybrids exhibit obvious heterosis. However, the underlying regulatory mechanism is still largely unknown, especially regarding the related non-coding genes. In the present study, approximately 1035 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), as well as 80 DE-lncRNAs and 10 DE-miRNAs, were identified, with the overwhelming majority down-regulated in male-sterile floral buds. Enrichment analyses revealed that the general phenylpropanoid pathway as well as its related metabolisms was predicted to be altered in a mutant compared to its fertile progenitor. Meanwhile, the conserved genetic pathway DYT1-TDF1-AMS-MS188-MS1, as well as the causal gene ClAMT1 for the male-sterile mutant Se18, was substantially disrupted during male reproductive development. In addition, some targets of the key regulators AMS and MS188 in tapetum development were also down-regulated at a transcriptional level, such as ABCG26 (Cla004479), ACOS5 (Cla022956), CYP703A2 (Cla021151), PKSA (Cla021099), and TKPR1 (Cla002563). Considering lncRNAs may act as functional endogenous target mimics of miRNAs, competitive endogenous RNA networks were subsequently constructed, with the most complex one containing three DE-miRNAs, two DE-lncRNAs, and 21 DEGs. Collectively, these findings not only contribute to a better understanding of genetic regulatory networks underlying male sterility in watermelon, but also provide valuable candidates for future research.

【 授权许可】

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Copyright © 2023 Yue, Pan, Li, Si, Yin, Hou, Chen, Li, Zhang, Ma, Yang, Li, Luan, Huang, Zhang, Yuan, Zhang and Wei