Differential expression of heat shock and floral regulatory genes in pseudocarpel initials of mantled female inflorescences from Elaeis guineensis Jacq.

Identification of differentially expressed genes from RNA-seq of normal and mantled male floral organs (staminodia) obtained from laser capture microdissection. Differential expression analysis was also conducted on normal and mantled female floral organs (carpel) using the same approach. Inflorescences at stage 3 floral development were sampled from two normal clonal palms and three mantled clonal palms. Spikelets from these inflorescences were embedded for cryosectioning and targeted stage 3 development florets were identified through microscopy analysis. Three biological replicates per group (normal / mantled); for the mantled group, the biological replicates were obtained from inflorescences sampled from three different palms. For the normal group, two biological replicates were obtained from different parts of one inflorescence of one palm and another biological replicate obtained from an inflorescence of another palm. Normal group was designated as reference group.