Transcriptome and flower genes analysis of Prunus campanulata Maxim

Prunus campanulata Maxim. (syn. Cerasus campanulata or Prunus cerasoides var. campanulata) is a species of wild cherry native to Taiwan. Unlike most of the species in genus Cerasus, it is native to subtropical to tropical climate, and is often being planted as ornamental or roadside tree in city. Flower is the most attractive part of P. campanulata, but the genes participated in blossom in this specie are unknown. The transcriptome of P. campanulata inflorescence and leaves were sequenced by illumina technique. A total of 36,315 contigs were acquired, 22,531 of which were predicted as genes. For flower-related genes, 24 genes belong to MIKC group and one FT-like gene (PcFTL) belongs to PEBP gene family. Analysis of the PcFTL sequence suggests it as a flower activator. Expression of genes on the flower development pathway were also investigated, and the result showed genes belong to ABC model were highly expressed in inflorescence, thus indicates the P. campanulata transcriptome database is reliable. In this study an overview of P. campanulata inflorescence and leaves transcriptome was provided and the flower-related genes of P. campanulata were investigated. These findings improve our understanding of gene regulation of flowering in P. campanulata. Abbreviation: AGL - AGAMOUS LIKE; AP3: APETALA 3; BLAST - Basic Local Alignment Search Tool; CO - CONSTANTS; EMBL - European Molecular Biology Laboratory; EMF - Embryonic flower; FD - Flowering Locus D; FLC - FLOWERING LOCUS C; FPKM - fragments per kilobase of transcript per million; FRI - FRIGIDA; FT - Flowering Locus T; FTL - Flowering Locus T-like; gDNA - genomic DNA; GI - GIGANTEA; GO - gene ontology; LFY - LEAFY; MFT - MOTHER OF FT AND TFL1; NCBI - National Center for Biotechnology Information; NGS - next-generation sequencing; ORF - Open Reading Frame; PEBP - phosphatidylethanolaminebinding protein; PI - PISTILLATA; QTL - quantitative trait locus; SOC - SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSTION OF CONSTANS 1; SSEP - SEPALLATA; SVP - SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE; TAIR - The Arabidopsis Information Resource; TFL - TERMINAL FLOWER1-like