| Title: | Identification of transcription factors controlling floral morphology in wild Petunia species with contrasting pollination syndromes |
| Author(s): | Yarahmadov T; Robinson S; Hanemian M; Pulver V; Kuhlemeier C; |
| Address: | "Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, Bern, CH-3013, Switzerland. Department of BioMedical Research, University of Bern, Bern, CH-3008, Switzerland. Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1LR, UK. LIPM, Universite de Toulouse, INRAE, CNRS, Castanet-Tolosan, France" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1365-313X (Electronic) 0960-7412 (Print) 0960-7412 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Adaptation to different pollinators is an important driver of speciation in the angiosperms. Genetic approaches such as QTL mapping have been successfully used to identify the underlying speciation genes. However, these methods are often limited by widespread suppression of recombination due to divergence between species. While the mutations that caused the interspecific differences in floral color and scent have been elucidated in a variety of plant genera, the genes that are responsible for morphological differences remain mostly unknown. Differences in floral organ length determine the pollination efficiency of hawkmoths and hummingbirds, and therefore the genes that control these differences are potential speciation genes. Identifying such genes is challenging, especially in non-model species and when studying complex traits for which little prior genetic and biochemical knowledge is available. Here we combine transcriptomics with detailed growth analysis to identify candidate transcription factors underlying interspecific variation in the styles of Petunia flowers. Starting from a set of 2284 genes, stepwise filtering for expression in styles, differential expression between species, correlation with growth-related traits, allele-specific expression in interspecific hybrids, and/or high-impact polymorphisms resulted in a set of 43 candidate speciation genes. Validation by virus-induced gene silencing identified two MYB transcription factors, EOBI and EOBII, that were previously shown to regulate floral scent emission, a trait associated with pollination by hawkmoths" |
| Keywords: | "Flowers/physiology Gene Expression Regulation, Plant Gene Silencing Petunia/genetics/growth & development/*physiology Plant Proteins/*genetics Pollination/genetics/*physiology Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide Reproducibility of Results Transcription Factor;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineYarahmadov, Tural Robinson, Sarah Hanemian, Mathieu Pulver, Valentin Kuhlemeier, Cris eng 31003A_182340/SNSF_/Swiss National Science Foundation/Switzerland 741354/ERC_/European Research Council/International Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2020/08/12 Plant J. 2020 Oct; 104(2):289-301. doi: 10.1111/tpj.14962. Epub 2020 Sep 7" |
