Sexual dimorphism and rapid turnover in gene expression in pre-reproductive seedlings of a dioecious herb.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

Sexual dimorphism in morphology, physiology or life history traits is common in dioecious plants at reproductive maturity, but it is typically inconspicuous or absent in juveniles. Although plants of different sexes probably begin to diverge in gene expression both before their reproduction commences and before dimorphism becomes readily apparent, to our knowledge transcriptome-wide differential gene expression has yet to be demonstrated for any angiosperm species.

Methods

The present study documents differences in gene expression in both above- and below-ground tissues of early pre-reproductive individuals of the wind-pollinated dioecious annual herb, Mercurialis annua, which otherwise shows clear sexual dimorphism only at the adult stage.

Key results

SUBMITTER: Cossard GG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6612945 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature