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Transcriptome Analysis of Seed Weight Plasticity in Brassica napus.

ABSTRACT: A critical barrier to improving crop yield is the trade-off between seed weight (SW) and seed number (SN), which has been commonly reported in several crops, including Brassica napus. Despite the agronomic relevance of this issue, the molecular factors involved in the interaction between SW and SN are largely unknown in crops. In this work, we performed a detailed transcriptomic analysis of 48 seed samples obtained from two rapeseed spring genotypes subjected to different source-sink (S-S) ratios in order to examine the relationship between SW and SN under different field conditions. A multifactorial analysis of the RNA-seq data was used to identify a group of 1014 genes exclusively regulated by the S-S ratio. We found that a reduction in the S-S ratio during seed filling induces the expression of genes involved in sucrose transport, seed weight, and stress responses. Moreover, we identified five co-expression modules that are positively correlated with SW and negatively correlated with SN. Interestingly, one of these modules was significantly enriched in transcription factors (TFs). Furthermore, our network analysis predicted several NAC TFs as major hubs underlying SW and SN compensation. Taken together, our study provides novel insights into the molecular factors associated with the SW-SN relationship in rapeseed and identifies TFs as potential targets when improving crop yield.

SUBMITTER: Canales J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8123204 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Brassica napus is an important oilseed crop worldwide. Although seed weight is the main determinant of seed yield, few studies have focused on the molecular mechanisms that regulate seed weight in B. napus. In this study, the immature seeds of G-42 and 7-9, two B. napus doubled haploid (DH) lines with extremely different thousand-seed weight (TSW), were selected for a transcriptome analysis to determine the regulatory mechanisms underlying seed weight at the whole gene expression level and to identify candidate genes related to seed weight. A total of 2,251 new genes and 2,205 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained via RNA-seq (RNA sequencing). Among these genes, 1,747 (77.61%) new genes and 2020 (91.61%) DEGs were successfully annotated. Of these DEGs, 1,118 were up-regulated and 1,087 were down-regulated in the large-seed line. The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database analysis indicated that 15 DEGs were involved in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis and proteasome pathways, which might participate in regulating seed weight. The Gene Ontology (GO) database indicated that 222 DEGs were associated with the biological process or molecular function categories related to seed weight, such as cell division, cell size and cell cycle regulation, seed development, nutrient reservoir activity, and proteasome-mediated ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolic processes. Moreover, 50 DEGs encoding key enzymes or proteins were identified that likely participate in regulating seed weight. A DEG (GSBRNA2T00037121001) identified by the transcriptome analysis was also previously identified in a quantitative trait locus (QTL) region for seed weight via SLAF-seq (Specific Locus Amplified Fragment sequencing). Finally, the expression of 10 DEGs with putative roles in seed weight and the expression of the DEG GSBRNA2T00037121001 were confirmed by a quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, and the results were consistent with the RNA sequencing data. This work has provided new insights on the molecular mechanisms underlying seed weight-related biosynthesis and has laid a solid foundation for further improvements to the seed yield of oil crops.

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Transcriptome Analysis of Seed Weight Plasticity in Brassica napus.

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