Exploring differentially expressed genes associated with fertility instability of S-type cytoplasmic male-sterility in maize by RNA-seq

The germplasm resources for the S-type male sterility is rich in maize and it is resistant to Bipolaris maydis race T and CI, but the commercial application of S-type cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS-S) in maize hybrid industry is greatly compromised because of its common fertility instability. Currently, the existence of multiple minor effect loci in specific nuclear genetic backgrounds was considered as the molecular mechanism for this phenomenon. In the present study, we evaluated the fertility segregation of the different populations with the fertility instable material FIL-H in two environments of Beijing and Hainan, China. Our results indicated that the fertility instability of FIL-H was regulated by multiple genes, and the expression of these genes was sensitive to environmental factors. Using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology, transcriptomes of the sterile plants and partially fertile plants resulted from the backcross of FIL-H×Jing 724 in Hainan were analyzed and 2 108 genes with different expression were identified, including 1 951 up-regulated and 157 down-regulated genes. The cluster analysis indicated that these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) might play roles in many biological processes, such as the energy production and conversion, carbohydrate metabolism and signal transduction. In addition, the pathway of the starch and sucrose metabolism was emphatically investigated to reveal the DEGs during the process of starch biosynthesis between sterile and partially fertile plants, which were related to the key catalytic enzymes, such as ADP-G pyrophosphorylase, starch synthase and starch branching enzyme. The up-regulation of these genes in the partially fertile plant may promote the starch accumulation in its pollen. Our data provide the important theoretical basis for the further exploration of the molecular mechanism for the fertility instability in CMS-S maize.