Abstract
Double flowers are one of the important objectives of ornamental plant breeding. Sagittaria sagittifolia is an aquatic herb in the Alismataceae family that is widely used as an ornamental plant in gardens. However, the reference genome has not been published, and the molecular regulatory mechanism of flower formation remains unclear. In this study, single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology combined with Illumina RNA-Seq was used to perform a more comprehensive analysis of S. sagittifolia for the first time. We obtained high-quality full-length transcripts, including 53,422 complete open reading frames, and identified 5980 transcription factors that belonged to 67 families, with many MADS-box genes involved in flower formation being obtained. The transcription factors regulated by plant hormone signals played an important role in the development of double flowers. We also identified an AP2 orthologous gene, SsAP2, with a deletion of the binding site for miR172, that overexpressed SsAP2 in S. sagittifolia and exhibited a delayed flowering time and an increased number of petals. This study is the first report of a full-length transcriptome of S. sagittifolia. These reference transcripts will be valuable resources for the analysis of gene structures and sequences, which provide a theoretical basis for the molecular regulatory mechanism governing the formation of double flowers.
Highlights
Double flowers, which are characterized by the excessive development of petals, are important in ornamental flowers because they are considered to be more attractive in gardens than their normal counterparts
In the past few decades, flower development has been widely studied in arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), and the ABC model has been established to explain the characteristics of floral organs [4,5,6]
We conducted the first transcriptome analysis of the flower of S. sagittifolia that utilized the combination of single molecule real-time (SMRT) and Illumina RNA-Seq
Summary
Double flowers, which are characterized by the excessive development of petals, are important in ornamental flowers because they are considered to be more attractive in gardens than their normal counterparts. In the past few decades, flower development has been widely studied in arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and snapdragons (Antirrhinum majus), and the ABC model has been established to explain the characteristics of floral organs [4,5,6]. According to this model, class C genes AG (AGAMOUS) determine the formation of stamens and the fate of carpels. The loss of function of an AG orthologous gene (ThtAG1) in rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides) leads to the development of double flowers [11,12]. In many horticultural plants, such as Japanese gentian (Gentiana scabra) [10], common camellia (Camellia japonica) [13], garden petunia (Petunia hybrida) [14], and persian cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) [9], the inhibition of C genes results in the formation of double flowers
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