BackgroundThe tea plant is a crucial economic crop. The floral organ development consumes a large amount of nutrients, which affects the leaf yield. To understand the mechanism by which the tea plant produces sterile floral buds, we obtained a sterile tea plant by artificial hybridization. RNA-sequencing based transcriptome analysis was implemented in three samples to determine the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) related to flower development.ResultsIn this study, a total of 1991 DEGs were identified; 1057 genes were up-regulated and 934 genes were down-regulated in sterile hybrid floral buds. These were mainly distributed in the regulation of biological and metabolic processes. Significantly, auxin biosynthesis genes YUCCA, AUX1 and PIN were dramatically down-regulated, and ARF gene was up-regulated in the sterile hybrid floral buds, and flower development-related genes AP1, AP2 and SPL were changed. A total of 12 energy transfer-related genes were significantly decreased. Furthermore, the expression of 11 transcription factor genes was significantly different.ConclusionThe transcriptome analysis suggested that the production of sterile floral buds is a complex bioprocess, and that low auxin-related gene levels result in the formation of sterile floral buds in the tea plant.

中文翻译：

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茶树花蕾中可育亲本和不育杂种的转录组分析

背景茶树是一种重要的经济作物。花器官发育消耗大量养分，影响叶片产量。为了了解茶树产生不育花芽的机制，我们通过人工杂交获得了不育茶树。在三个样品中实施基于RNA测序的转录组分析，以确定与花发育相关的差异表达基因（DEGs）。结果本研究共鉴定出1991个DEGs；在不育杂种花芽中，1057个基因被上调，934个基因被下调。这些主要分布在生物和代谢过程的调节中。显着的是，生长素生物合成基因YUCCA、AUX1和PIN显着下调，ARF基因在不育杂种花芽中上调，花发育相关基因AP1、AP2和SPL发生了改变。共有12个能量转移相关基因显着减少。此外，11个转录因子基因的表达存在显着差异。结论转录组分析表明，不育花芽的产生是一个复杂的生物过程，低水平的生长素相关基因导致茶树不育花芽的形成。