State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang, 050021, China.
Shanghai Center for Plant Stress Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201602, China.
Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 18;8(1):15338. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-33718-y.
Wheat spike development is a coordinated process of cell proliferation and differentiation with distinctive phases and architecture changes. However, the dynamic alteration of gene expression in this process remains enigmatic. Here, we characterized and dissected bread wheat spike into six developmental stages, and used genome-wide gene expression profiling, to investigate the underlying regulatory mechanisms. High gene expression correlations between any two given stages indicated that wheat early spike development is controlled by a small subset of genes. Throughout, auxin signaling increased, while cytokinin signaling decreased. Besides, many genes associated with stress responses highly expressed during the double ridge stage. Among the differentially expressed genes (DEGs), were identified 375 transcription factor (TF) genes, of which some homologs in rice or Arabidopsis are proposed to function in meristem maintenance, flowering time, meristem initiation or transition, floral organ development or response to stress. Gene expression profiling demonstrated that these genes had either similar or distinct expression pattern in wheat. Several genes regulating spike development were expressed in the early spike, of which Earliness per se 3 (Eps-3) was found might function in the initiation of spikelet meristem. Our study helps uncover important genes associated with apical meristem morphology and development in wheat.
小麦穗发育是一个细胞增殖和分化的协调过程，具有独特的阶段和结构变化。然而，这一过程中基因表达的动态变化仍然是个谜。在这里，我们将小麦穗描述并划分为六个发育阶段，并利用全基因组基因表达谱分析来研究潜在的调控机制。任意两个给定阶段之间的高基因表达相关性表明，小麦早期穗发育是由一小部分基因控制的。整个过程中，生长素信号增加，而细胞分裂素信号减少。此外，许多与应激反应相关的基因在双脊期高度表达。在差异表达基因（DEGs）中，鉴定出 375 个转录因子（TF）基因，其中水稻或拟南芥中的一些同源基因被认为在分生组织维持、开花时间、分生组织起始或过渡、花器官发育或对胁迫的反应中发挥作用。基因表达谱分析表明，这些基因在小麦中的表达模式相似或不同。几个调节穗发育的基因在早期穗中表达，其中早熟性本身 3（Eps-3）被发现可能在小穗分生组织的起始中发挥作用。我们的研究有助于揭示与小麦顶端分生组织形态和发育相关的重要基因。
