Sexual dimorphic floral development in dioecious plants revealed by transcriptome, phytohormone, and DNA methylation analysis in Populus tomentosa

Song, Yuepeng; Ma, Kaifeng; Ci, Dong; Chen, Qingqing; Tian, Jiaxing; Zhang, Deqiang

doi:10.1007/s11103-013-0108-2

Cited by 61 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…Hence, sexual differences in the phytohormone concentrations as well as the relationships among phytohormones, morphological traits, and flower biomass were observed in this study (Figure 3, Tables 2 and 3). Similar results were reported in plant Populus tomentosa that genes related to phytohormone synthesis were significantly differentially expressed between the sexes and resulted in quite different endogenous GA, IAA, ABA, and CT (cytokinins) contents during all of floral development (Song et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Sex‐specific floral morphology, biomass, and phytohormones associated with altitude in dioecious Populus cathayana populations

Dong

Huang

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Relationships between sex‐specific floral traits and endogenous phytohormones associated with altitude are unknown particularly in dioecious trees. We thus examined the relationships between floral morphology or biomass and phytohormones in male and female flowers of dioecious Populus cathayana populations along an altitudinal gradient (1,500, 1,600, and 1,700 m above sea level) in the Xiaowutai Nature Reserve in northern China. The female and male flowers had the most stigma and pollen at 1,700 m, the largest ovaries and least pollen at 1,500 m, and the smallest ovaries and greater numbers of anthers at 1,600 m altitude. The single‐flower biomass was significantly greater in males than in females at 1,600 or 1,700 m, but the opposite was true at 1,500 m altitude. The biomass percentages were significantly higher in anthers than in stigmas at each altitude, while significantly greater gibberellin A3 (GA 3), zeatin riboside (ZR), indoleacetic acid (IAA), and abscisic acid (ABA) concentrations were found in female than in male flowers. Moreover, most flower morphological traits positively correlated with IAA in females but not in males. The biomass of a single flower was significantly positively correlated with ABA or IAA in males but negatively with ZR in females and was not correlated with GA 3 in both females and males. Our results demonstrate a distinct sexual adaptation between male and female flowers and that phytohormones are closely related to the size, shape, and biomass allocation in the pollination or fertilization organs of dioecious plants, although with variations in altitude.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 87%

Sex‐specific floral morphology, biomass, and phytohormones associated with altitude in dioecious Populus cathayana populations

Dong

Huang

et al. 2017

Ecology and Evolution

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“…; Song et al . ), consistent with a single ancient origin of dioecy in this group around 65 Ma (Cronk ). The cytological evidence (reviewed in Tuskan et al .…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…In an andromonoecious clone of Populus tomentosa , expression of the poplar orthologue of MET1 was significantly higher in all stages of female flower development (Song et al . ). In Arabidopsis, MET1 is required for maintenance of epigenetic memory (Blevins et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Recent Y chromosome divergence despite ancient origin of dioecy in poplars (Populus)

et al. 2015

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All species of the genus Populus (poplar, aspen) are dioecious, suggesting an ancient origin of this trait. Despite some empirical counter examples, theory suggests that nonrecombining sex-linked regions should quickly spread, eventually becoming heteromorphic chromosomes. In contrast, we show using whole-genome scans that the sex-associated region in Populus trichocarpa is small and much younger than the age of the genus. This indicates that sex determination is highly labile in poplar, consistent with recent evidence of 'turnover' of sex-determination regions in animals. We performed whole-genome resequencing of 52 P. trichocarpa (black cottonwood) and 34 Populus balsamifera (balsam poplar) individuals of known sex. Genomewide association studies in these unstructured populations identified 650 SNPs significantly associated with sex. We estimate the size of the sex-linked region to be ~100 kbp. All SNPs significantly associated with sex were in strong linkage disequilibrium despite the fact that they were mapped to six different chromosomes (plus 3 unmapped scaffolds) in version 2.2 of the reference genome. We show that this is likely due to genome misassembly. The segregation pattern of sex-associated SNPs revealed this to be an XY sex-determining system. Estimated divergence times of X and Y haplotype sequences (6-7 Ma) are much more recent than the divergence of P. trichocarpa (poplar) and Populus tremuloides (aspen). Consistent with this, in P. tremuloides, we found no XY haplotype divergence within the P. trichocarpa sex-determining region. These two species therefore have a different genomic architecture of sex, suggestive of at least one turnover event in the recent past.

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“…In the genus Populus (poplars and aspens) methylation has also been implicated in work using the Chinese white poplar (an aspen relative), Populus tomentosa Carrière12.…”

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confidence: 99%

Sexual epigenetics: gender-specific methylation of a gene in the sex determining region of Populus balsamifera

Bräutigam

Soolanayakanahally

Champigny

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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Methylation has frequently been implicated in gender determination in plants. The recent discovery of the sex determining region (SDR) of balsam poplar, Populus balsamifera, pinpointed 13 genes with differentiated X and Y copies. We tested these genes for differential methylation using whole methylome sequencing of xylem tissue of multiple individuals grown under field conditions in two common gardens. The only SDR gene to show a marked pattern of gender-specific methylation is PbRR9, a member of the two component response regulator (type-A) gene family, involved in cytokinin signalling. It is an ortholog of Arabidopsis genes ARR16 and ARR17. The strongest patterns of differential methylation (mostly male-biased) are found in the putative promoter and the first intron. The 4th intron is strongly methylated in both sexes and the 5th intron is unmethylated in both sexes. Using a statistical learning algorithm we find that it is possible accurately to assign trees to gender using genome-wide methylation patterns alone. The strongest predictor is the region coincident with PbRR9, showing that this gene stands out against all genes in the genome in having the strongest sex-specific methylation pattern. We propose the hypothesis that PbRR9 has a direct, epigenetically mediated, role in poplar sex determination.

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Sexual dimorphic floral development in dioecious plants revealed by transcriptome, phytohormone, and DNA methylation analysis in Populus tomentosa

Cited by 61 publications

References 64 publications

Sex‐specific floral morphology, biomass, and phytohormones associated with altitude in dioecious Populus cathayana populations

Sex‐specific floral morphology, biomass, and phytohormones associated with altitude in dioecious Populus cathayana populations

Recent Y chromosome divergence despite ancient origin of dioecy in poplars (Populus)

Sexual epigenetics: gender-specific methylation of a gene in the sex determining region of Populus balsamifera

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