ABSTRACT: Anther development is a complex process, and the study of its molecular mechanism has an important impact on plant breeding. This study aims to identify microRNA (miRNA), mRNA, long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), and circular RNA (circRNA) related to anther development of Chinese cabbage, so as to construct competitive endogenous RNA (ceRNA) regulatory networks and provide valuable knowledge for the exploration of pollen development mechanism of Chinese cabbage. A total of 9055 mRNA, 585 miRNA, 1344 lncRNA, and 165 circRNA were identified as differentially expressed in the anther of Chinese cabbage compared with Mix (roots, stems and leaves) by whole-transcriptome sequencing. The anther-related ceRNA-miRNA-target gene regulatory network through miRNA targeting relationships was constructed and 450 pairs of ceRNA relationships, including 97 DEmiRNA-DEmRNA, 281 DEmiRNA-DElncRNA, and 23 DEmiRNA-DEcircRNA interactions were obtained in Chinese cabbage. The genes in the ceRNA network were enriched in the pathways including starch and sucrose metabolism, carbon metabolism, pyruvate metabolism and carbon fixation in photosynthetic organisms, plant hormone signal transduction, and RNA degradation. This study identified some important genes and their interaction lncRNAs, circRNAs, and miRNAs involved in microsporogenesis (BraA06g035480.3C), tapetum and callose layer development (BraA09g009280.3C, BraA04g028920.3C, and BraA10g022680.3C etc), pollen wall formation (BraA06g000980.3C, BraA02g023130.3C, and BraA10g029650.3C etc), and anther dehiscence (BraA10g027200.3C, BraA04g023740.3C, and BraA04g030860.3C etc). Additionally, we analyzed the promoter activity of six anther predominant expression genes, and the results showed that they were all expressed specifically in the anther of Chinese cabbage. This study lay the foundation for further research on the molecular mechanism of anther growth and development.
