Abstract
BackgroundPlant anther development is a systematic and complex process precisely controlled by genes. Regulation genes and their regulatory mechanisms for this process remain elusive. In contrast to numerous researches on anther development with respect to mRNAs or miRNAs in many crops, the association analysis combining both omics has not been reported on cotton anther.ResultsIn this study, the molecular mechanism of cotton anther development was investigated with the employment of association analysis of transcriptome and small RNA sequencing during the predefined four stages of cotton anther development, sporogenuous cell proliferation (SCP), meiotic phase (MP), microspore release period (MRP) and pollen maturity (PM). Analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes are increasingly recruited along with the developmental progress. Expression of functional genes differed significantly among developmental stages. The genes related with cell cycle, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation, and meiosis are predominantly expressed at the early stage of anther development (SCP and MP), and the expression of genes involved in energy metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, axon guidance and phospholipase D signaling pathways is mainly enriched at the late stage of anther development (MRP and PM). Analysis of expression patterns revealed that there was the largest number of differentially expressed genes in the MP and the expression profiles of differentially expressed genes were significantly increased, which implied the importance of MP in the entire anther development cycle. In addition, prediction and analysis of miRNA targeted genes suggested that miRNAs play important roles in anther development. The miRNAs ghr-miR393, Dt_chr12_6065 and At_chr9_3080 participated in cell cycle, carbohydrate metabolism and auxin anabolism through the target genes, respectively, to achieve the regulation of anther development.ConclusionsThrough the association analysis of mRNA and miRNA, our work gives a better understanding of the preferentially expressed genes and regulation in different developmental stages of cotton anther and the importance of meiotic phase, and also the involvement of miRNAs in precise regulation for this process, which would be valuable for clarifying the mechanism of plant anther development in response to internal and external environments.
Highlights
Plant anther development is a systematic and complex process precisely controlled by genes
In order to characterize the gene expression in anther development, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened between the four continuous stages, and 2910, 7054 and 10,386 Differentially expressed gene (DEG) were identified when sporogenuous cell proliferation (SCP) compared with meiotic phase (MP), microspore release period (MRP) and pollen maturity (PM), respectively; When MP compared with the MRP and PM, 5326 and 9664 DEGs were screened respectively, and 4973 DEGs were obtained from the comparison between MRP and PM (Fig. 1)
The results indicate that the number of DEGs is gradually increased with the progress of anther development, suggesting that more specific genes are recruited at different developmental stages to ensure the normal development and maturation
Summary
Plant anther development is a systematic and complex process precisely controlled by genes. The occurrence of flowers to the maturity of pollen grains is a systematic and complex process involving the regulation of a large number of genes [5,6,7]. Genes involving in anther development concentrated on regulation of starch and sucrose metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, antioxidant production, flavonoid biosynthesis, cell cycle, meiosis and plant hormone pathways [4, 8, 9]. Further investigations revealed that genes, including Ghck, SnRK1, hexokinase and 14–3-3 protein genes are involved in the metabolism of sucrose in starch biosynthesis Differential expression of these genes can lead to male sterility [9, 13,14,15]. The genes ARFs play important roles in floral development [30], overexpression of targeted miRNA160 in cotton can induce anther indehiscence [31]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
