| Popis: |
Dioecy, a sexual system of single-sex (gynoecious/androecious) individuals, is rare in flowering plants. This rarity may be a result of the frequent transition from dioecy into systems with co-sex individuals. Here, we report potential molecular and genetic mechanisms that underlie the dissolution of dioecy to monoecy and andro(gyno)monoecy, based on multiscale genome-wide investigations of 150 accessions ofDiospyros oleifera. All co-sexD. oleiferaplants, including monoecious and andro(gyno)monoecious individuals, possessed the male determinant geneOGI, implying that genetic factors control gynoecia development in genetically maleD. oleifera. In both single- and co-sex plants, female function was expressed in the presence of a genome-wide decrease in methylation levels, along with sexually distinct regulatory networks of smRNAs and their targets. Furthermore, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified a genomic region and aDUF247gene cluster strongly associated with the monoecious phenotype, as well as several regions that may contribute to andromonoecy. Collectively, our findings imply stable breakdown of the dioecious system inD. oleifera, presumably a result of the genomic features of the sex-linked region. |
