Barley Anther and Meiocyte Transcriptome Dynamics in Meiotic Prophase I

Abdellah Barakate, Jamie Orr, Miriam Schreiber, Isabelle Colas, Dominika Lewandowska, Nicola McCallum, Malcolm Macaulay, Jenny Morris, Mikel Arrieta, Pete E. Hedley, Luke Ramsay, Robbie Waugh (Lead / Corresponding author)

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
121 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In flowering plants, successful germinal cell development and meiotic recombination depend upon a combination of environmental and genetic factors. To gain insights into this specialized reproductive development program we used short- and long-read RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) to study the temporal dynamics of transcript abundance in immuno-cytologically staged barley (Hordeum vulgare) anthers and meiocytes. We show that the most significant transcriptional changes in anthers occur at the transition from pre-meiosis to leptotene-zygotene, which is followed by increasingly stable transcript abundance throughout prophase I into metaphase I-tetrad. Our analysis reveals that the pre-meiotic anthers are enriched in long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and that entry to meiosis is characterized by their robust and significant down regulation. Intriguingly, only 24% of a collection of putative meiotic gene orthologs showed differential transcript abundance in at least one stage or tissue comparison. Argonautes, E3 ubiquitin ligases, and lys48 specific de-ubiquitinating enzymes were enriched in prophase I meiocyte samples. These developmental, time-resolved transcriptomes demonstrate remarkable stability in transcript abundance in meiocytes throughout prophase I after the initial and substantial reprogramming at meiosis entry and the complexity of the regulatory networks involved in early meiotic processes.

Original languageEnglish
Article number619404
Number of pages24
JournalFrontiers in Plant Science
Volume11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jan 2021

Keywords

  • barley
  • anther
  • meiocyte
  • transcriptome
  • meiosis
  • argonaute
  • IncRNAs
  • ubiquitin
  • lncRNAs

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Plant Science

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