Open AccessThe development of functional mapping by three sex-related loci on the third whorl of different sex types of Carica papaya L.
Author(s) -
ChenYu Lee,
Hui Jun Lin,
K. Viswanath,
Chih Peng Lin,
Bill C.H. Chang,
Pei Hsun Chiu,
Chan Tai Chiu,
Ren Huang Wang,
Shih Wen Chin,
Fure Chyi Chen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0194605
Subject(s) - carica , hermaphrodite , biology , whorl (mollusc) , single nucleotide polymorphism , genetics , genotype , intron , gene , botany , genus
Carica papaya L. is an important economic crop worldwide and is used as a model plant for sex-determination research. To study the different flower sex types, we screened sex-related genes using alternative splicing sequences (AS-seqs) from a transcriptome database of the three flower sex types, i.e., males, females, and hermaphrodites, established at 28 days before flowering using 15 bacterial artificial chromosomes (BACs) of C . papaya L. After screening, the cDNA regions of the three sex-related loci, including short vegetative phase-like ( CpSVPL ), the chromatin assembly factor 1 subunit A-like ( CpCAF1AL ), and the somatic embryogenesis receptor kinase ( CpSERK ), which contained eight sex-related single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the different sex types of C . papaya L., were genotyped using high-resolution melting (HRM). The three loci were examined regarding the profiles of the third whorl, as described below. CpSVPL , which had one SNP associated with the three sex genotypes, was highly expressed in the male and female sterile flowers (abnormal hermaphrodite flowers) that lacked the fourth whorl structure. CpCAF1AL , which had three SNPs associated with the male genotype, was highly expressed in male and normal hermaphrodite flowers, and had no AS-seqs, whereas it exhibited low expression and an AS-seqs in intron 11 in abnormal hermaphrodite flowers. Conversely, carpellate flowers (abnormal hermaphrodite flowers) showed low expression of CpSVPL and AS-seqs in introns 5, 6, and 7 of CpSERK , which contained four SNPs associated with the female genotype. Specifically, the CpSERK and CpCAF1AL loci exhibited no AS-seq expression in the third whorl of the male and normal hermaphrodite flowers, respectively, and variance in the AS-seq expression of all other types of flowers. Functional mapping of the third whorl of normal hermaphrodites indicated no AS-seq expression in CpSERK , low CpSVPL expression, and, for CpCAF1A L, high expression and no AS-seq expression on XY h -type chromosomes.