title: Genome-Wide Survey Reveals Transcriptional Differences Underlying the Contrasting Trichome Phenotypes of Two Sister Desert Poplars.
abstract: Trichomes, which are widely used as an important diagnostic characteristic in plant species delimitation, play important roles in plant defense and adaptation to adverse environments. In this study, we used two sister poplar species,Populus pruinosaandPopulus euphratica-which have, respectively, dense and sparse trichomes-to examine the genetic differences associated with these contrasting phenotypes. The results showed that 42 and 45 genes could be identified as candidate genes related to trichomes inP. pruinosaandP. euphratica, respectively; most of these genes possessed high degrees of diversification in their coding sequences, but they were similar in intron/exon structure in the two species. We also found that most of the candidate trichome genes were expressed at higher levels inP. pruinosa, which has dense trichomes, than inP. euphratica, where there are few trichomes. Based on analyses of transcriptional profiles, a total of 195 genes, including many transcription factors, were found to show distinct differences in expression. The results of gene function annotation suggested that the genes identified as having contrasting levels of expression level are mainly associated with trichome elongation, ATPase activity, and hormone transduction. Changes in the expression of these and other related genes with high sequence diversification may have contributed to the contrast in the pattern of trichome phenotypes between the two species.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. majch13@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jianchao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. 18794241141@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. bxt15138691581@163.com.
authors.forename: Xiaotao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. niuzhm16@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhimin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. duanbb14@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Bingbing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Chennn15@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Ningning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. shaoxm15@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xuemin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. wandsh@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dongshi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wan
keywords: C2H2; MYB; P. euphratica; P. pruinosa; bHLH; differentially expressed genes; trichome