Transcriptomics analysis reveals the molecular mechanism of male sterility in Chimonanthus praecox

Abstract

Background Chimonanthus praecox is a unique ornamental and economic flowering tree in China, and after thousands of years of cultivation, it has produced a large number of varieties and a rich variety of types. C.praecox utilizes heterozygous and dioecious mating systems that are mainly heterozygous and partially autogamous, thus ensuring the inheritance of good genes of the species, and promoting the improvement of plant varieties. Male sterility is widespread in flowering plants and is an important tool for the genetic improvement of plants and optimization using hybrid advantage, but there has never been any report on male sterile material and related studies in C.praecox. Result In this study, we reported for the first time the plant material of male sterility in C.praecox and preliminarily investigated the molecular mechanism of male sterility using transcriptome technology. The results showed that male sterility in C.praecox was already formed during the budding period and presumably occurred during the pre-mature stage of pollen cell maturation. It was also found that differentially expressed genes in starch and sugar metabolic pathways and phytohormone signaling pathways showed regular expression trends. Conclusion This study reported for the first time the germplasm resources of male sterility in C.praecoxand explored the molecular mechanism of their male sterility, which can provide new ideas for the cultivation and genetic improvement of C.praecox as well as the study of the molecular mechanism of male sterility formation.