Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers development

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) is an important cucurbit crop grown worldwide. Watermelon fruit quality, fertility, and seed-setting rate are closely related to male flower development. In this study, the different developmental stages of flower buds of the watermelon...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ying-chun ZHU, Gao-peng YUAN, Sheng-feng JIA, Guo-lin AN, Wei-hua LI, De-xi SUN, Jun-pu LIU
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2022-02-01
Series:Journal of Integrative Agriculture
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311921636158
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1839603687907917824
author Ying-chun ZHU
Gao-peng YUAN
Sheng-feng JIA
Guo-lin AN
Wei-hua LI
De-xi SUN
Jun-pu LIU
author_facet Ying-chun ZHU
Gao-peng YUAN
Sheng-feng JIA
Guo-lin AN
Wei-hua LI
De-xi SUN
Jun-pu LIU
author_sort Ying-chun ZHU
collection DOAJ
description Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) is an important cucurbit crop grown worldwide. Watermelon fruit quality, fertility, and seed-setting rate are closely related to male flower development. In this study, the different developmental stages of flower buds of the watermelon cultivar ‘Xinteda Zhengkang 9’ were distinguished by cytological observation, and transcriptome sequencing analysis was performed subsequently. Acetocarmine staining of anthers was performed and the longitudinal and transverse diameters of the unopened male flower buds were measured. Cytological observations of anthers at different developmental stages showed that the anther grew from the tetrad to the mature stage, and the longitudinal and transverse diameters of the flower buds increased. The length of the male flower buds also changed significantly during development. Transcriptome sequencing analysis at four periods, the tetrad (A group), mononuclear (B group), dikaryophase (C group), and mature stages (D group). A total of 16 288 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in the four stages, with the prolongation of developmental stages, the number of DEGs increased gradually in the comparison groups, there was 2 014, 3 259, 4 628, 1 490, 3 495 and 1 132 DEGs revealed in six comparison groups (A-vs.-B, A-vs.-C, A-vs.-D, B-vs.-C, B-vs.-D, and C-vs.-D), respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were mainly enriched in cellular component and starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and pentose sugar, etc. Finally, we completely screened 59 DEGs in the six comparison groups, interestingly, we found one pollen-specific protein (Cla001608) that was significantly down-regulated (the value of log2Fold Change up to 17.32), which indicated that it may play an important role in the development of male flowers. This work provides insight into the molecular basis of the developmental stages of male flowers in watermelon and may aid in dominant cross breeding.
format Article
id doaj-art-3a21ce441b0d4da288c5dea3d63a717f
institution Matheson Library
issn 2095-3119
language English
publishDate 2022-02-01
publisher KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
record_format Article
series Journal of Integrative Agriculture
spelling doaj-art-3a21ce441b0d4da288c5dea3d63a717f2025-08-02T05:34:58ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Journal of Integrative Agriculture2095-31192022-02-01212407421Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers developmentYing-chun ZHU0Gao-peng YUAN1Sheng-feng JIA2Guo-lin AN3Wei-hua LI4De-xi SUN5Jun-pu LIU6Correspondence ZHU Ying-chun, Tel: +86-371-60277661; Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450000, P.R.ChinaZhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450000, P.R.ChinaZhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450000, P.R.ChinaZhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450000, P.R.ChinaZhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450000, P.R.ChinaCorrespondence SUN De-xi, Tel: +86-371-60277661; Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450000, P.R.ChinaCorrespondence LIU Jun-pu; Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou 450000, P.R.ChinaWatermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) is an important cucurbit crop grown worldwide. Watermelon fruit quality, fertility, and seed-setting rate are closely related to male flower development. In this study, the different developmental stages of flower buds of the watermelon cultivar ‘Xinteda Zhengkang 9’ were distinguished by cytological observation, and transcriptome sequencing analysis was performed subsequently. Acetocarmine staining of anthers was performed and the longitudinal and transverse diameters of the unopened male flower buds were measured. Cytological observations of anthers at different developmental stages showed that the anther grew from the tetrad to the mature stage, and the longitudinal and transverse diameters of the flower buds increased. The length of the male flower buds also changed significantly during development. Transcriptome sequencing analysis at four periods, the tetrad (A group), mononuclear (B group), dikaryophase (C group), and mature stages (D group). A total of 16 288 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in the four stages, with the prolongation of developmental stages, the number of DEGs increased gradually in the comparison groups, there was 2 014, 3 259, 4 628, 1 490, 3 495 and 1 132 DEGs revealed in six comparison groups (A-vs.-B, A-vs.-C, A-vs.-D, B-vs.-C, B-vs.-D, and C-vs.-D), respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the DEGs were mainly enriched in cellular component and starch and sucrose metabolism, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and pentose sugar, etc. Finally, we completely screened 59 DEGs in the six comparison groups, interestingly, we found one pollen-specific protein (Cla001608) that was significantly down-regulated (the value of log2Fold Change up to 17.32), which indicated that it may play an important role in the development of male flowers. This work provides insight into the molecular basis of the developmental stages of male flowers in watermelon and may aid in dominant cross breeding.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311921636158watermelonmale flowers developmentcytological observationtranscriptome sequencing
spellingShingle Ying-chun ZHU
Gao-peng YUAN
Sheng-feng JIA
Guo-lin AN
Wei-hua LI
De-xi SUN
Jun-pu LIU
Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers development
Journal of Integrative Agriculture
watermelon
male flowers development
cytological observation
transcriptome sequencing
title Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers development
title_full Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers development
title_fullStr Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers development
title_full_unstemmed Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers development
title_short Transcriptomic profiling of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) provides insights into male flowers development
title_sort transcriptomic profiling of watermelon citrullus lanatus provides insights into male flowers development
topic watermelon
male flowers development
cytological observation
transcriptome sequencing
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095311921636158
work_keys_str_mv AT yingchunzhu transcriptomicprofilingofwatermeloncitrulluslanatusprovidesinsightsintomaleflowersdevelopment
AT gaopengyuan transcriptomicprofilingofwatermeloncitrulluslanatusprovidesinsightsintomaleflowersdevelopment
AT shengfengjia transcriptomicprofilingofwatermeloncitrulluslanatusprovidesinsightsintomaleflowersdevelopment
AT guolinan transcriptomicprofilingofwatermeloncitrulluslanatusprovidesinsightsintomaleflowersdevelopment
AT weihuali transcriptomicprofilingofwatermeloncitrulluslanatusprovidesinsightsintomaleflowersdevelopment
AT dexisun transcriptomicprofilingofwatermeloncitrulluslanatusprovidesinsightsintomaleflowersdevelopment
AT junpuliu transcriptomicprofilingofwatermeloncitrulluslanatusprovidesinsightsintomaleflowersdevelopment