Transcriptomics Reveal an Integrated Gene Regulation Network of Early Flowering Development in an Oil Sunflower Mutant Induced by Heavy Ion Beam

Xiao Liu, Xuhui Mao, Jihong Chen, Yan Du, Wenjie Jin, Ruiyuan Liu, Libin Zhou () and Ying Qu ()
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Xiao Liu: Biophysics Group, Biomedical Center, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xuhui Mao: Crop Research Institute, Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730070, China
Jihong Chen: Biophysics Group, Biomedical Center, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Yan Du: Biophysics Group, Biomedical Center, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Wenjie Jin: Biophysics Group, Biomedical Center, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Ruiyuan Liu: Biophysics Group, Biomedical Center, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Libin Zhou: Biophysics Group, Biomedical Center, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China
Ying Qu: Biophysics Group, Biomedical Center, Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: The oil sunflower is an important oil crop and ornamental plant. Flowering time affects the environmental adaptability and final yield of oil sunflowers. Floral induction is one of the important events that determines subsequent reproductive growth and seed setting, but there has been no systematic study on the regulation of gene expression during the transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth in oil sunflowers. In this study, an oil sunflower mutant displaying early flowering ( ef ) was obtained by heavy ion beam irradiation. This mutant had a stable genetic trait, and its flowering time was 15 days earlier than the wild type (WT) in the field. The histology result showed that the ef mutant induced floral meristem at 6-leaf stage earlier than WT. The shoot apical meristems (SAMs) of the ef mutant and WT at 4-leaf, 6-leaf, 8-leaf, 10-leaf and budding periods were collected for RNA sequencing. The results showed that the transition from the leaf meristem to the floral meristem resulted in significant changes in the transcriptional landscape. Overall, 632, 1825, 4549, 5407 and 2164 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified at 4-leaf, 6-leaf, 8-leaf, 10-leaf and budding periods, respectively. These DEGs were mainly enriched in biological pathways, including plant hormone signal transduction, carbon metabolism, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, secondary metabolism, and photosynthesis. We also found significant differences in the expression levels of starch and sucrose metabolism-related genes in the ef mutant and WT, indicating that sugar signaling plays an important role in the early flowering of oil sunflowers, especially SUC9 and sugar synthesis and degradation enzyme genes. In addition to hormone and sugar signals, flowering integration genes SOC1 , AP1 , FUL and LFY were upregulated in the ef mutant, and genes in photoperiod, aging, autonomous and temperature pathways were also involved in the regulation of floral transition. The results showed that plant hormones, sucrose metabolism, and flowering genes synergistically cause the early flowering of oil sunflowers. Our study provided important information for understanding flowering and is helpful for the genetic improvement of sunflowers.

Keywords: oil sunflower; transcriptome; flowering; plant hormone; sucrose metabolism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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