title: Comparative transcriptomics of early meiosis in Arabidopsis and maize.
abstract: Though sexually reproductive plants share the same principle and most processes in meiosis, there are distinct features detectable. To address the similarities and differences of early meiosis transcriptomes from the dicot model system Arabidopsis and monocot model system maize, we performed comparative analyses of RNA-seq data of isolated meiocytes, anthers and seedlings from both species separately and via orthologous genes. Overall gene expression showed similarities, such as an increased number of reads mapping to unannotated features, and differences, such as the amount of differentially expressed genes. We detected major similarities and differences in functional annotations of genes up-regulated in meiocytes, which point to conserved features as well as unique features. Transcriptional regulation seems to be quite similar in Arabidopsis and maize, and we could reveal known and novel transcription factors and cis-regulatory elements acting in early meiosis. Taken together, meiosis between Arabidopsis and maize is conserved in many ways, but displays key distinctions that lie in the patterns of gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dukowic-Schulze
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: College of Life Sciences, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan 453007, China.
authors.forename: Junhua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, NM 87505, USA.
authors.forename: Anitha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sundararajan
authors.affiliation: National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, NM 87505, USA.
authors.forename: Joann
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mudge
authors.affiliation: National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, NM 87505, USA.
authors.forename: Ernest F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Retzel
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Wojciech P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Pawlowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA. Electronic address: chenx481@umn.edu.
authors.forename: Changbin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D001483:Base Sequence; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D017343:Genes, Plant; D008540:Meiosis / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014157:Transcription Factors
keywords: Arabidopsis; Maize; Meiocytes; Meiosis; RNA-seq; Transcriptome