Equal parental contribution to the transcriptome is not equal control of embryogenesis

Area of Science:

• Plant developmental biology
• Genomics
• Epigenetics

Background:

• Early embryogenesis in animals is maternally controlled.
• In plants, parental genomes contribute equally to the proembryo transcriptome.
• The extent of parental control versus genetic contribution in plant embryogenesis remains unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether equal parental transcriptome contribution in early plant embryos equates to equal control over development.
• To analyze cell-lineage-specific and allele-specific transcriptomes.
• To determine the role of parental genomes in early embryogenesis.

Main Methods:

• Cell-lineage-specific transcriptome analysis
• Allele-specific transcriptome analysis
• Analysis of early proembryos

Main Results:

• Both paternal and maternal genomes contribute equally to the transcriptomes of apical and basal cell lineages in early proembryos.
• A significant maternal effect was observed in basal cell lineage development.
• Parent-of-origin genes exhibit developmental-stage- and cell-lineage-dependent allelic expression patterns.

Conclusions:

• Equal parental transcriptome contribution does not necessarily mean equivalent parental control in plant embryogenesis.
• Parental control cannot be solely inferred from the ratio of paternal/maternal transcripts.
• Findings provide a basis for investigating specific parental roles in early embryogenesis.