Transcriptomic sequencing of female and male flowers of Bama Huoma

Bama Huoma is a typical dioecious plant that exhibits sex determination controlled by X and Y chromosomes; the female and male karyotypes are XX and XY, respectively.Male plants are unable to produce seeds, resulting in a dramatic decline in the yield of Bama Huoma seeds. For this reason, elucidating the molecular genetic mechanism of sex differentiation in Bama Huoma is an effective method for the targeted breeding of all-female varieties and improving seed yield. However, little is known about the molecular basis and regulatory mechanisms underlying sex differentiation in Bama Huoma. In this study, whole-transcriptome strand-specific RNA sequencing analysis was employed to identify the candidate genes involved in sex determination in Bama Huoma.