Abstract
Prunus mume is an important ornamental woody plant with winter-flowering property, which is closely related to bud dormancy. Despite recent scientific headway in deciphering the mechanism of bud dormancy in P. mume, the overall picture of gene co-expression regulating P. mume bud dormancy is still unclear. Here a total of 23 modules were screened by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), of which 12 modules were significantly associated with heteroauxin, abscisic acid (ABA), and gibberellin (GA), including GA1, GA3, and GA4. The yellow module, which was positively correlated with the content of ABA and negatively correlated with the content of GA, was composed of 1,426 genes, among which 156 transcription factors (TFs) were annotated with transcriptional regulation function. An enrichment analysis revealed that these genes are related to the dormancy process and plant hormone signal transduction. Interestingly, the expression trends of PmABF2 and PmABF4 genes, the core members of ABA signal transduction, were positively correlated with P. mume bud dormancy. Additionally, the PmSVP gene had attracted lots of attention because of its co-expression, function enrichment, and expression level. PmABF2, PmABF4, and PmSVP were the genes with a high degree of expression in the co-expression network, which was upregulated by ABA treatment. Our results provide insights into the underlying molecular mechanism of plant hormone-regulated dormancy and screen the hub genes involved in bud dormancy in P. mume.
Highlights
Dormancy is a strategy in which higher plants survive under adverse conditions by suspending growth and development (Holdsworth et al, 2008)
To assess how the change of plant hormone content contributes to P. mume bud dormancy, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to investigate gene sets that were related to plant hormone content using the RNA-seq during the dormancy period
We found that more than half of the genes were collectively co-expressed with these three genes; only two genes were specific in the ABF2 gene co-expression network
Summary
Dormancy is a strategy in which higher plants survive under adverse conditions by suspending growth and development (Holdsworth et al, 2008). The two main signals that plants depend on to respond to seasonal changes were photoperiod and temperature, which play a key role in the growth–dormancy cycle of trees (Maurya and Bhalerao, 2017). Plenty of studies have reported that photoperiod and temperature play crucial but opposite roles in the induction and release of dormancy, but the thresholds and combined effects of these environmental factors remain to be determined. If the photoperiod is shorter than the critical threshold for plant growth (short day), the growth will stop and the terminal bud will eventually form, surrounding the shoot tip meristem, while short day will cause the bud to transit to dormancy (Kainer et al, 1991; Barrero et al, 2012)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
