Sex-specific small RNA profiling and target gene expression in dioecious and monoecious Pistacia chinensis

Pistacia chinensis Bunge is known as dioecious, but we have found wild monoecious individuals. In order to screen the candidate genes which may influence the sex expression or floral phenotypic differences of P. chinensis, the inflorescence buds for different sex types associated with the sex differentiation were selected and tested for small RNA sequencing. Sex-specific differentially expressed small RNA were discovered, combined with real-time PCR data, the regulation patterns of various sex types were first revealed. Our study represents the first detailed analysis of small RNA sequencing, providing more clues for understanding the mechanism of sex determination on P. chinensis. The inflorescence buds of four sex types (female, male, monoecious female and bisexual) during two sex differentiation stages were selected for small RNA sequencing.