Insights on seed abortion (endosperm and embryo development failure) from the transcriptome analysis of the wild type plant species Paeonia lutea

Paeonia lutea is a wild peony (an endangered flowering plant species) found in China. Seed abortion (endosperm and embryo development failure) is linked to several endangered plant species. Therefore, it is of interest to complete a comparative analysis of transcriptome between the normal active seeds (Population A) and the endangered abortion seeds (Population H). Data from GO assignments of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) shows that "metabolic process", "binding", "cellular process", "catalytic activity", "cell" and "cell part" are commonly prevalent in these popuations. DEGs between the populations are found to be connected with metabolic pathways, biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, purine metabolism and ribosome. We used quantitative RT-PCR to validate 16 DEGs associated with these populations. It is found that histone genes and proline-rich extensin genes are predominant in the common groups. Histone genes (H2A, H2B, H3, H4 and linker histone H1) show 3 to 4 folds log2FC higher expession in population A than in population H in stage I unlike in stage II and III. Increased activity of proline-rich extensin genes in population A than in population H corresponding to seed abortion in the later population is implied. These preliminary data from the transcriptome analysis of the wild type plant species Paeonia lutea provide valuable insights on seed abortion.