Transcriptome characteristics and MADS-box family transcription factors analysis of Acer griseum flowers

Acer griseum (Franch.) Pax bearing male and female (pseudo-hermaphroditic) flowers on the same individual is a well-known ornamental and endangered plant of China. However, because there is little genetic and sequencing data available, the molecular mechanisms underlying flower development and causes of endangerment in A. griseum are still unclear. In this study, we conducted de novo transcriptome assembly and comparative analysis of female and male flowers at the different developmental stages of A. griseum for the first time. The 163,122,870 qualified reads were acquired and assembled into 224,904 unigenes, of which 161,678 (71.89%) unigenes were annotated in the NR database. By pairwise comparison of unigene abundance between the four samples, many DEGs between the male and female flowers have been detected. Among them, 27 MADS-box genes were identified in A. griseum, phylogenetic analysis divided them into type I (Mα, Mβ, Mγ) and type II subfamilies. Quantitative PCR was applied to validate the DEGs identified in this study. These transcriptome data will be beneficial to further the understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating the flower development in A. griseum and to lay the foundation for its further breeding.