Regulatory mechanism of on sexuality in .

Dioecy system is an important strategy for maintaining genetic diversity. The transcription factor , contributes to dioecy by promoting gynoecium development in and . However, the function of in has not been identified. In this study, we confirmed that , cloned from , repressed the androecium development in . Subsequently, chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq), DNA affinity purification-sequencing (DAP-seq), and RNA-seq were used to uncover the gene expression response to . The results showed that the genes upregulated and downregulated in response to were mainly enriched in the circadian rhythm-related and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways, respectively. Additionally, the WRKY DNA-binding protein 28 () gene, which was detected by ChIP-seq, DAP-seq, and RNA-seq, was emphasized. has been reported to inhibit salicylic acid (SA) biosynthesis and was upregulated in MeGI-overexpressing flowers, suggesting that represses the SA level by increasing the expression level of . This was confirmed that SA level was lower in female floral buds than male. Overall, our findings indicate that the mediates its sex control function in mainly by regulating genes in the circadian rhythm, SA biosynthetic, and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways.