Analysis of metabolic pathways related to fertility restoration and identification of fertility candidate genes associated with Aegilops kotschyi cytoplasm in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

BACKGROUND: Thermo-sensitive male-sterility based on Aegilops kotschyi cytoplasm (K-TCMS) plays an important role in hybrid wheat breeding. This has important possible applications in two-line hybrid wheat breeding but the genetic basis and molecular regulation mechanism related to fertility restoration are poorly understood. In this study, comparative transcriptome profiling based on RNA sequencing was conducted for two near-isogenic lines comprising KTM3315R and its sterile counterpart KTM3315A, a total of six samples (3 repetitions per group), in order to identify fertility restoration genes and their metabolic pathways. RESULTS: In total, 2642 significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected, among which 1238 were down-regulated and 1404 were up-regulated in fertile anthers. Functional annotation enrichment analysis identified important pathways related to fertility restoration, such as carbohydrate metabolism, phenylpropanoid metabolism and biosynthesis, as well as candidate genes encoding pectin methylesterase and flavanone 3-hydroxylase. Moreover, transcription factor analysis showed that a large number of DEGs were mainly involved with the WRKY, bHLH, and MYB transcription factor families. Determination of total soluble sugar and flavonoid contents demonstrated that important metabolic pathways and candidate genes are associated with fertility restoration. Twelve DEGs were selected and detected by quantitative reverse-transcribed PCR, and the results indicated that the transcriptome sequencing results were reliable. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that identified DEGs were related to the fertility restoration and they proved to be crucial in Aegilops kotschyi cytoplasm. These findings also provide a basis for exploring the molecular regulation mechanism associated with wheat fertility restoration as well as screening and cloning related genes. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12870-019-1824-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.