AUTHOR=Zhang Liangsheng , Wang Lei , Yang Yulin , Cui Jie , Chang Fang , Wang Yingxiang , Ma Hong 

TITLE=Analysis of Arabidopsis floral transcriptome: detection of new florally expressed genes and expansion of Brassicaceae-specific gene families

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2014.00802

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2014.00802

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>The flower is essential for sexual reproduction of flowering plants and has been extensively studied. However, it is still not clear how many genes are expressed in the flower. Here, we performed RNA-seq analysis as a highly sensitive approach to investigate the <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> floral transcriptome at three developmental stages. We provide evidence that at least 23, 961 genes are active in the <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> flower, including 8512 genes that have not been reported as florally expressed previously. We compared gene expression at different stages and found that many genes encoding transcription factors are preferentially expressed in early flower development. Other genes with expression at distinct developmental stages included <italic>DUF577</italic> in meiotic cells and <italic>DUF220</italic>, <italic>DUF1216</italic>, and <italic>Oleosin</italic> in stage 12 flowers. <italic>DUF1216</italic> and <italic>DUF577</italic> are Brassicaceae specific, and together with other families experienced expansion within the Brassicaceae lineage, suggesting novel/greater roles in Brassicaceae floral development than other plants. The large dataset from this study can serve as a resource for expression analysis of genes involved in flower development in <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> and for comparison with other species. Together, this work provides clues regarding molecular networks underlying flower development.</p>