The mechanism of sex differentiation in androdioecy is of great significance for illuminating the origin and evolution of dioecy. Tapiscia sinensis Oliv. is a functionally androdioecious species with both male and hermaphroditic individuals. Male flowers of T. sinensis lack the ovules of gynoecia compared to hermaphrodites. To identify sex simply and accurately, and further find the potential determinants of sex differentiation in T. sinensis, we found that TsRPL10a′, a duplicate of TsRPL10a, was a male-linked gene. The promoter (5′ untranslated region and the first intron) of TsRPL10a′ can be used to accurately identify sex in T. sinensis. TsRPL10a is a ribosomal protein that is involved in gynoecium development, and sufficient ribosomal levels are necessary for female gametogenesis. The expression level of TsRPL10a was significantly downregulated in male flower primordia compared to hermaphrodites. The FISH (RNA fluorescence in situ hybridization) assay demonstrated that TsRPL10a was almost undetectable in male gynoecia at the gynoecial ridge stage, which was a key period of ovule formation by SEM observation. In male flowers, although the promoter activity of TsRPL10a was significantly higher than TsRPL10a′ verified by transgenic A. thaliana, the transcriptional expression ratio of TsRPL10a was obviously lower than TsRPL10a′ and reached its lowest at the gynoecial ridge stage, indicating the existence of a female suppressor. The promoter similarity of TsRPL10a and TsRPL10a′ was only 45.29%; the genomic sequence similarity was 89.8%; four amino acids were altered in TsRPL10a′. The secondary structure of TsRPL10a′ was different from TsRPL10a, and TsRPL10a′ did not exhibit FISH and GUS expression in the gynoecium the way TsRPL10a did. From the perspective of RT-qPCR, its high expression level, followed by the low expression level of TsRPL10a in male flowers, indicates its antagonism function with TsRPL10a. The evolutionary analysis, subcellular localization and flower expression pattern suggested that TsRPL10a might be functionally conserved with AtRPL10aA, AtRPL10aB and AtRPL10aC in A. thaliana. Overall, we speculated that TsRPL10a and its duplicate TsRPL10a′ might be involved in sex differentiation by influencing gynoecium development in T. sinensis.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.