Sex-Related Gene Network Revealed by Transcriptome Differentiation of Bisexual and Unisexual Flowers of Orchid Cymbidium tortisepalum
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Published:2023-11-22
Issue:23
Volume:24
Page:16627
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ISSN:1422-0067
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Container-title:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
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language:en
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Short-container-title:IJMS
Author:
Ma Xiaokai12, Ju Song12, Lin Han12, Huang Huaxing1, Huang Jie2, Peng Donghui2, Ming Ray13ORCID, Lan Siren2, Liu Zhong-Jian2ORCID
Affiliation:
1. Center for Genomics and Biotechnology, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, School of Future Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China 2. Key Laboratory of Orchid Conservation and Utilization of National Forestry and Grassland Administration at College of Landscape Architecture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China 3. Department of Plant Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801-3707, USA
Abstract
Despite extensive research on orchid reproductive strategies, the genetic studies of sex differentiation in the orchid family are still lacking. In this study, we compared three sexual phenotypes of Cymbidium tortisepalum bisexual flowers as well as female and male unisexual mutants. Through comparative transcriptomes, we analyzed the sex-biased differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and gene co-expression networks of sex organs (gynostemium and ovary) among them, identified the candidate genes of sex differentiation, and validated their expression by qRT-PCR. The C. tortisepalum unisexual mutants with degenerated phenotypes were compared to the bisexual plants with respect to both the flower organs and plant morphologies. Totally, 12,145, 10,789, and 14,447 genes were uniquely expressed in the female, male, and hermaphrodite sex organs, respectively. A total of 4291 sex-biased DEGs were detected among them, with 871, 2867, and 1937 DEGs in the comparisons of bisexual vs. female, bisexual vs. male, and male vs. female flowers, respectively. Two co-expressed network modules, with 81 and 419 genes were tightly correlated with female sexual traits, while two others with 265 and 135 genes were highly correlated with male sexual traits. Two female-biased hub genes (CtSDR3b and CtSDR3b-like) nested in the female modules, the homologs of maize sex determinant tasselseed2, may control the feminization of C. tortisepalum. At the same time, two male-biased hub genes (CtYAB2 and CtYAB5) nested in the male modules, the homologs of grape sex determinant VviYABBY3, may control the androphany of C. tortisepalum. This study discovered the molecular regulation networks and proposed a model for orchid sex differentiation, therefore providing for the first time the genetic basis for the sex separation in the orchid family.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province Earmarked Fund of Science and Technology Innovation for Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University Science and Technology Program of Fuzhou
Subject
Inorganic Chemistry,Organic Chemistry,Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Computer Science Applications,Spectroscopy,Molecular Biology,General Medicine,Catalysis
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