Ovule transcriptome analysis discloses deregulation of genes and pathways in sexual and apomictic Limonium species (Plumbaginaceae)

• Autor(a) principal: Caperta, Ana D.
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Fernandes, Isabel, Conceição, Sofia I. R., Marques, Isabel, Róis, Ana S., Paulo, Octávio S.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/27642
• topic: apomixis; floral development; functional annotation; Illumina sequencing; MADS-box; male sterility; sea lavenders; sexual reproduction

The genus Limonium Mill. (sea lavenders) includes species with sexual and apomixis reproductive strategies, although the genes involved in these processes are unknown. To explore the mechanisms beyond these reproduction modes, transcriptome profiling of sexual, male sterile, and facultative apomictic species was carried out using ovules from different developmental stages. In total, 15,166 unigenes were found to be differentially expressed with apomictic vs. sexual reproduc- tion, of which 4275 were uniquely annotated using an Arabidopsis thaliana database, with different regulations according to each stage and/or species compared. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment analy- sis indicated that genes related to tubulin, actin, the ubiquitin degradation process, reactive oxygen species scavenging, hormone signaling such as the ethylene signaling pathway and gibberellic acid- dependent signal, and transcription factors were found among differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between apomictic and sexual plants. We found that 24% of uniquely annotated DEGs were likely to be implicated in flower development, male sterility, pollen formation, pollen-stigma interactions, and pollen tube formation. The present study identifies candidate genes that are highly associated with distinct reproductive modes and sheds light on the molecular mechanisms of apomixis expression in Limonium sp