Project description:Recently, we found a dioecious plant Populus cathayana males possess a greater tolerance to enhanced UV-B radiation than do females. To carry this work forward, comparative transcriptome analyses were carried out. Similar to previous studies, a set of conserved functions and pathways related to UV-B stress were detected in males and females, regardless of the sex. In addition, sex-specific responses via transcriptome remodeling were also detected as shown in the changes of sex-related gene expression occurred in some pathways. For example, a lot of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in amino acid metabolism were mainly up-regulated in males, but down-regulated in females. Moreover, we found some DEGs expressed predominantly or exclusively in one sex, which may directly contribute to sex-related physiological responses.
