Table_8_Gibberellin Induced Transcriptome Profiles Reveal Gene Regulation of Loquat Flowering.XLSX

Flowering is an integral part of the life cycle of flowering plants, which is essential for plant survival and crop production. Most woody fruit trees such as apples and pears bloom in spring, but loquat blooms in autumn and winter. Gibberellin (GA) plays a key role in the regulation of plant flower formation. In this study, we sprayed loquat plants with exogenous GA3, which resulted in vigorous vegetative growth rather than floral bud formation. We then performed a comprehensive RNA-seq analysis on GA3-treated and control-treated leaves and buds over three time periods to observe the effects of exogenous GA3 application on floral initiation and development. The results showed that 111 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 563 DEGs were down-regulated, and 151 DEGs and 506 DEGs were up-regulated in buds and leaves, respectively, upon treatment with GA3. Among those that are homologs of the DELLA-mediated GA signal pathway genes, some may be involved in the positive regulation of flower development, including EjWRKY75, EjFT, EjSOC1, EjAGL24, EjSPL, EjLFY, EjFUL, and EjAP1; while some may be involved in the negative regulation of flower development, including EjDELLA, EjMYC3, EjWRKY12, and EjWRKY13. Finally, by analyzing the co-expression of DEGs and key floral genes EjSOC1s, EjLFYs, EjFULs, EjAP1s, 330 candidate genes that may be involved in the regulation of loquat flowering were screened. These genes belong to 74 gene families, including Cyclin_C, Histone, Kinesin, Lipase_GDSL, MYB, P450, Pkinase, Tubulin, and ZF-HD_dimer gene families. These findings provide new insights into the regulation mechanism of loquat flowering.

开花是显花植物生命周期不可或缺的环节，对植物存活与作物生产至关重要。多数木本果树如苹果、梨均于春季开花，而枇杷（loquat）则在秋冬季节绽放。赤霉素（Gibberellin, GA）在植物成花调控中发挥关键作用。本研究中，我们对枇杷植株喷施外源赤霉素3（GA3），结果诱导植株产生旺盛的营养生长，而非花芽形成。随后，我们在三个时间节点下，对经GA3处理与对照处理的叶片及芽体开展全面的RNA测序（RNA-seq）分析，以探究外源GA3施用对成花启动与花发育的影响。结果显示，经GA3处理后，芽体与叶片中分别有111、563个差异表达基因（DEGs）下调，以及151、506个DEGs上调。在DELLA介导的赤霉素信号通路基因的同源基因中，部分可能参与花发育的正调控，包括EjWRKY75、EjFT、EjSOC1、EjAGL24、EjSPL、EjLFY、EjFUL及EjAP1；而另一部分则可能参与花发育的负调控，包括EjDELLA、EjMYC3、EjWRKY12及EjWRKY13。最后，通过分析DEGs与关键花发育基因EjSOC1s、EjLFYs、EjFULs、EjAP1s的共表达模式，我们筛选出330个可能参与枇杷开花调控的候选基因。这些基因隶属于74个基因家族，包括细胞周期蛋白_C（Cyclin_C）、组蛋白（Histone）、驱动蛋白（Kinesin）、脂肪酶_GDSL（Lipase_GDSL）、MYB、细胞色素P450（P450）、蛋白激酶（Pkinase）、微管蛋白（Tubulin）及ZF-HD二聚体（ZF-HD_dimer）基因家族。本研究结果为枇杷开花调控机制提供了新的见解。