title: Genome-wide transcriptome profiling provides insights into floral bud development of summer-flowering Camellia azalea.
abstract: The transition from vegetative to reproductive growth in woody perennials involves pathways controlling flowering timing, bud dormancy and outgrowth in responses to seasonal cues. However little is known about the mechanism governing the adaptation of signaling pathways to environmental conditions in trees. Camellia azalea is a rare species in this genus flowering during summer, which provides a unique resource for floral timing breeding. Here we reported a comprehensive transcriptomics study to capture the global gene profiles during floral bud development in C. azalea. We examined the genome-wide gene expression between three developmental stages including floral bud initiation, floral organ differentiation and bud outgrowth, and identified nine co-expression clusters with distinctive patterns. Further, we identified the differential expressed genes (DEGs) during development and characterized the functional properties of DEGs by Gene Ontology analysis. We showed that transition from floral bud initiation to floral organ differentiation required changes of genes in flowering timing regulation, while transition to floral bud outgrowth was regulated by various pathways such as cold and light signaling, phytohormone pathways and plant metabolisms. Further analyses of dormancy associated MADS-box genes revealed that SVP- and AGL24- like genes displayed distinct expression patterns suggesting divergent roles during floral bud development.
authors.affiliation: 1] Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang. 311400, Zhejiang, China [2] Key Laboratory of Forest genetics and breeding, Zhejiang Province. 311400, China.
authors.forename: Zhengqi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: 1] Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang. 311400, Zhejiang, China [2] Key Laboratory of Forest genetics and breeding, Zhejiang Province. 311400, China.
authors.forename: Jiyuan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1] Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang. 311400, Zhejiang, China [2] Key Laboratory of Forest genetics and breeding, Zhejiang Province. 311400, China.
authors.forename: Xinlei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang. 311400, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang. 311400, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Jiangying
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Zhongchi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: 1] Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang. 311400, Zhejiang, China [2] Key Laboratory of Forest genetics and breeding, Zhejiang Province. 311400, China.
authors.forename: Hengfu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yin
mesh_terms: D028244:Camellia / Q000235:genetics*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D005810:Multigene Family; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D059467:Transcriptome