Abstract
Double-flower ornamental crabapples display eye-catching morphologies in comparison to single flower, but the genetic basis of double-flower development is not yet well known in apples. In order to comprehensively understand the differential expression of genes (DEGs) between single and double flower, the transcriptome of double flower crabapples Malus Kelsey, Malus micromalus, Malus Royalty, and a single flower cultivar Malus Dolgo were compared by RNA-sequencing. The results showed that there were 1854 genes in overlapped DEGs among all sample comparisons in apple single and double flower varieties. A large number of development and hormone related DEGs were also recognized on the basis of GO and KEGG annotations, and most of the genes were found to be down-regulated in double flowers. Particularly, an AGL24-MADS-box gene (MD08G1196900) and an auxin responsive gene (MD13G1137000) were putatively key candidate genes in the development of double flower by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). The study provides insights into the complex molecular mechanism underlying the development of the double flower in apple.
Highlights
IntroductionDouble flower ornamental crabapples are one of the most eye-catching entity of plant landscape [1,2,3] but, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of double flowering in apple
Several studies have demonstrated the feasibility of understanding the differences in single and double flower morphologies by gene expression profiles [24,25], but no such study is found on crabapple double flowers
Our data extended previous findings that five AGL24-like MIKC-type MADS-box genes were down-regulated in double flowers, which may be involved in double flowering
Summary
Double flower ornamental crabapples are one of the most eye-catching entity of plant landscape [1,2,3] but, little is known about the molecular mechanisms of double flowering in apple. Many expressed transcription factor (TF) genes were identified during the double flowering process, besides, hormones play a vital role in double flowering [10,11,12], suggesting a complex gene regulatory network underlying flower development regulating different floral forms [13]. Several studies have demonstrated the feasibility of understanding the differences in single and double flower morphologies by gene expression profiles [24,25], but no such study is found on crabapple double flowers. To gain a deeper insight into the molecular mechanism of double flowering, we performed RNA-seq analysis for single flowers of Malus Dolgo, double flowers of Malus Kelsey, Malus micromalus, Malus
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