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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1418358
This article is part of the Research Topic Phytohormones as Crucial Players in Organ Abscission View all articles

Transcriptome analysis unravels key pathways and hub genes related to immature fruit abscission in Camellia oleifera

Provisionally accepted
Xiaoling Ma Xiaoling Ma 1*Xin Lei Xin Lei 1*Shiwen Chen Shiwen Chen 1Jinwen Li Jinwen Li 1*Xiang Ouyang Xiang Ouyang 2*
  • 1 Central South University Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
  • 2 Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, Changsha, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Immature fruit abscission of Camellia oleifera (C. oleifera) is a common problem limiting yield increases. However, the regulatory mechanisms underlying immature fruit abscission in C. oleifera are unclear. In this study, we systematically investigated changes in the morphological, physiological, and gene expression of fruit abscission zones (FAZs) of soon-to-abscise fruits (M2). We found that fruit abscission before ripening mainly occurs during the August abscission stage of 'Huashuo'. At the beginning of this stage, the FAZs of M2 have a marked dent, and the separation layer structures are preliminarily formed. Phytohormone analysis showed that the contents of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and jasmonic acid (JA) in the FAZs of M2 were significantly decreased compared with the non-abscised fruits, while the content of trans-zeatin (TZR) was increased. Transcriptome analysis identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) mainly involved in phytohormone metabolism, including ethylene, auxin, JA, and the cis-zeatin signal transduction pathway. There were also many DEGs involved in cell wall catabolism. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) further suggested that the transcription factors NAC100 and ERF114 participate in the immature fruit abscission of C. oleifera. This study provides insights into the fruit abscission mechanism of C. oleifera.

    Keywords: Camellia oleifera, Fruit abscission, phytohormones, Transcriptome, Hub genes

    Received: 16 Apr 2024; Accepted: 24 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ma, Lei, Chen, Li and Ouyang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xiaoling Ma, Central South University Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
    Xin Lei, Central South University Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
    Jinwen Li, Central South University Forestry and Technology, Changsha, China
    Xiang Ouyang, Hunan Hybrid Rice Research Center, Changsha, China

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