Identification of genes specifically or preferentially expressed in maize silk reveals similarity and diversity in transcript abundance of different dry stigmas

作者：Xiao Xu, Hao Chen, Ya Lin Sang, Fang Wang, Jun Ping, Xin‐Qi Gao, Xian Sheng Zhang · 发表于：BMC Genomics · 年份：2012 · DOI：10.1186/1471-2164-13-294 · 被引用次数：41 · 研究领域：Plant Reproductive Biology、Plant Molecular Biology Research、Genetic and Environmental Crop Studies

BACKGROUND: In plants, pollination is a critical step in reproduction. During pollination, constant communication between male pollen and the female stigma is required for pollen adhesion, germination, and tube growth. The detailed mechanisms of stigma-mediated reproductive processes, however, remain largely unknown. Maize (Zea mays L.), one of the world's most important crops, has been extensively used as a model species to study molecular mechanisms of pollen and stigma interaction. A comprehensive analysis of maize silk transcriptome may provide valuable information for investigating stigma functionality. A comparative analysis of expression profiles between maize silk and dry stigmas of other species might reveal conserved and diverse mechanisms that underlie stigma-mediated reproductive processes in various plant species. RESULTS: Transcript abundance profiles of mature silk, mature pollen, mature ovary, and seedling were investigated using RNA-seq. By comparing the transcriptomes of these tissues, we identified 1,427 genes specifically or preferentially expressed in maize silk. Bioinformatic analyses of these genes revealed many genes with known functions in plant reproduction as well as novel candidate genes that encode amino acid transporters, peptide and oligopeptide transporters, and cysteine-rich receptor-like kinases. In addition, comparison of gene sets specifically or preferentially expressed in stigmas of maize, rice (Oryza sativa L.), and Arabidopsis (Arabidop...