AUTHOR=Liu Pei-Gang , Xu Zi-Long , Zhu Yan , Lin Tian-Bao , Lv Zhi-Qiang , Yang Sheng , Wang Jin-Wang , Hu Wen-Jun , Chen Lin , Wei Jia 

TITLE=Integrative Analyses of Transcriptomics and Metabolomics in Sex Differentiation of Mulberry Flowers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2022.881090

DOI=10.3389/fmolb.2022.881090

ISSN=2296-889X

ABSTRACT=Sex determination and sex differentiation of plants are important physiological processes of plant development. Mulberry (Morus indica L.) is an important economic tree being cultivated in sericultural countries, and mulberry leaf is commonly used for sericulture. The transcriptomic and metabolomic differences between staminate flowers (SFs) and pistillate flowers (PFs) of mulberry were investigated by using RNA sequencing and ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). Overall, we uncovered 4230 genes and 209 metabolites are significantly differentially expressed between the SFs and PFs of mulberry. The combined transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis revealed these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed metabolites (DEMs) are involved in flavonoid biosynthesis, galactose metabolism, plant-pathogen interaction, and starch and sucrose metabolism, and these detected DEGs and DEMs may be associated with sex differentiation of mulberry. This study will provide a rich source for analysis of the molecular mechanism of mulberry sex differentiation processes.