Molecular Differentiation of Gender in Buffalograss

Abstract

Buffalograss [Buchloë dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm. syn. Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) Columbus] is a warm‐season, stoloniferous, perennial grass species native to the Great Plains of North America. Buffalograss is a dioecious species where structural differences can be observed between inflorescences of male and female plants. The genetic mechanisms conferring gender expression in buffalograss are not known. In the present study, RNA‐seq was performed to evaluate the transcriptome of 10 buffalograss female and 10 buffalograss male F1 individuals of a segregating diploid linkage mapping population. Collectively, 187,600,044 male sequencing reads and 148,324,220 female sequencing reads were produced. The sequencing reads were read mapped to a buffalograss cultivar Prestige reference transcriptome with a greater than 96% success rate. By comparing male and female transcriptomes, we found 1734 differentially expressed transcripts. Among this group, 445 transcripts had higher expression in male plants while the remaining 1289 had higher expression in the females. Two male‐specific sequences and one female‐specific sequence were identified along with genes associated with flowering and reproduction. To date, this is the most detailed characterization of the genetic differences between male and female buffalograss.

Simple sequence repeat marker development and diversity analysis in buffalograss

“…As part of that project, 121,288 total contigs were assembled and 325 differentially expressed transcripts were identified between Prestige and 378. Donze et al (2015) sequenced the transcriptomes of 10 male and 10 female buffalograss F1 progeny from a genetic linkage mapping population to identify transcripts important for gender expression in buffalograss. Donze et al (2015) found 1,734 differentially expressed transcripts (false discovery rate, FDR < 0.01) by gender.…”

“…Donze et al (2015) sequenced the transcriptomes of 10 male and 10 female buffalograss F1 progeny from a genetic linkage mapping population to identify transcripts important for gender expression in buffalograss. Donze et al (2015) found 1,734 differentially expressed transcripts (false discovery rate, FDR < 0.01) by gender. Of those resulting transcripts, 445 had higher expression in male plants, and two were uniquely expressed in the males.…”

“…Donze et al. (2015) sequenced the transcriptomes of 10 male and 10 female buffalograss F1 progeny from a genetic linkage mapping population to identify transcripts important for gender expression in buffalograss. Donze et al.…”

“…Donze et al. (2015) found 1,734 differentially expressed transcripts (false discovery rate, FDR < 0.01) by gender. Of those resulting transcripts, 445 had higher expression in male plants, and two were uniquely expressed in the males.…”