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Published on: November 9, 2013
The MADS-box transcription factor CsAGL9 plays essential roles in seed setting in Camellia sinensis
Liubin Wang1, Yinhong Qian1, Liyun Wu2
1Key Laboratory of Biology, Genetics and Breeding of Special Economic Animals and Plants, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, National Center for Tea Improvement, Tea Research Institute Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (TRICAAS), Hangzhou, 310008, China; Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China.
Abstract:
The number of seed setting (NSS) is an important biological trait that affects tea propagation and yield. In this study, the NSS of an F1 tea population (n = 324) generated via a cross between 'Longjing 43' and 'Baihaozao' was investigated at two locations in two consecutive years. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping of the NSS was performed, and 10 major QTLs were identified. In total, 318 genes were found in these 10 QTLs intervals, and 11 key candidate genes were preliminarily identified. Among them, the MADS-box transcription factor AGAMOUS LIKE 9 (CsAGL9, CSS0037962) located in the most stable QTL (qNSS2) was identified as a key gene affecting the NSS. CsAGL9 overexpression in Arabidopsis promoted early flowering and significantly decreased the length and number of pods and number of seeds per pod. Transcriptome analysis demonstrated that the auxin pathway, a key hormone pathway regulating plant reproduction, was highly affected in the transgenic lines. The auxin pathway was likewise the most prominent in the gene co-expression network study of CsAGL9 in tea plants. In summary, we identified CsAGL9 is essential for seed setting using QTL mapping integrated with RNA-seq, which shed a new light on the mechanism NSS of seed setting in tea plants.
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