Based on observing the cytological characteristics of the flower buds of the functional male sterile line (S13) and the fertile line (F142) in eggplant, it was found that the disintegration period of the annular cell clusters in S13 anther was 2 days later than that of F142, and the cells of stomiun tissue and tapetum in F142 disintegrated on the blooming day, while it did not happen in S13. The comparative transcriptomic analysis showed that there were 1 436 differential expression genes (DEGs) (651 up-regulated and 785 down-regulated) in anthers of F142 and S13 at 8, 5 days before flowering and flowering day. The significance analysis of GO enrichment indicated that there were more unigene clusters involved in single cell biological process, metabolism process and cell process, and more catalytic activity and binding function were involved in molecular functions. Through KEGG annotation we found that the common DEGs were mainly enriched in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, metabolic pathway, protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum, biosynthesis of amino acids, carbon metabolism and plant hormone signal transduction. The fifteen genes co-expression modules were identified from 16 465 selected genes by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), three of which (Plum2, Royalblue and Bisque4 modules) were highly related to S13 during flower development. KEGG enrichment showed that the specific modules could be enriched in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, photosynthesis, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism, α-linolenic acid metabolism, polysaccharide biosynthesis and metabolism, fatty acid degradation and the mutual transformation of pentose and glucuronic acid. These genes might play important roles during flower development of S13. It provided a reference for further study on the mechanism of anther dehiscence in eggplant.
以茄子功能雄性不育系 (S13) 和可育系 (F142) 为材料，对花蕾不同发育时期的细胞学特征进行观察，发现S13花药中环形细胞簇的解体时期比F142延迟2 d，开花当天F142的裂口组织及内绒毡层的细胞解体，而S13中无此现象发生。转录组测序分析表明，F142和S13开花前8天、5天和开花当天的花药共有1 436个差异表达基因 (DEGs) (651个表达上调，785个表达下调)。GO显著性分析表明差异基因主要富集在生物学过程中涉及单细胞生物过程、代谢过程和细胞过程的单基因簇 (Unigene) 较多，分子功能中涉及较多的有催化活性和结合功能；KEGG注释发现，差异基因主要富集在次生代谢产物的生物合成、代谢途径、内质网蛋白质加工、氨基酸的生物合成、碳代谢和植物激素信号转导。选取16 465个基因进行加权基因共表达网络构建分析 (Weighted gene co-expression network analysis，WGCNA)，共鉴定到15个基因共表达模块，其中3个为S13在3个花蕾发育时期高度相关特异性模块 (Plum2、Royalblue和Bisque4模块)；KEGG富集表明，特异性模块可以富集到苯丙烷类生物合成、光合作用、卟啉与叶绿素代谢、α-亚麻酸代谢、多糖的生物合成和代谢、脂肪酸降解以及戊糖与葡萄糖醛酸的相互转化等相关通路，这些基因可能在S13花蕾发育过程中发挥重要作用。研究结果为进一步探索茄子花药开裂机制提供了一定的参考。.
Keywords: Solanum melongena L.; anther dehiscence; metabolic pathway; transcriptome analysis.