Commercial cultivars of garlic, a popular condiment, are sterile, making genetic variation and germplasm innovation of this plant challenging. Understanding mechanism of gamete sterility in garlic and their key regulatory networks is therefore important for fertility restoration. In this work, we conducted a detailed phenotypic analysis of fertile and sterile garlic genotypes and found that enlargement of topset in the inflorescence of sterile genotypes led to abnormal flowers. Additional cytological observations showed that aberrant meiotic cytokinesis in sterile garlic ultimately resulted in pollen degeneration. Transcriptomics analysis of sterile and fertile genotypes identified possible molecular mechanisms underlying gamete abortion. A total of 100 710 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the fertile and sterile garlic flowers at three stages of gamete development were identified, many of which were involved in homologous chromosome synapsis during meiosis, MYB transcription factor regulation, ribosome biogenesis and plant hormone signal transduction. Taken together, these results provide insight into the molecular mechanisms and regulatory networks underlying gamete development in garlic and point to a set of candidate genes for further functional characterization.

中文翻译：

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比较转录组学分析揭示了与大蒜配子形成相关的阶段特异性基因表达谱。


大蒜是一种流行的调味品，其商业品种是不育的，这使得这种植物的遗传变异和种质创新具有挑战性。因此，了解大蒜配子不育机制及其关键调控网络对于生育力恢复非常重要。在这项工作中，我们对可育和不育大蒜基因型进行了详细的表型分析，发现不育基因型花序顶花的增大导致花朵异常。额外的细胞学观察表明，不育大蒜中异常的减数分裂胞质分裂最终导致花粉退化。对不育和可育基因型的转录组学分析确定了配子流产的可能分子机制。共鉴定出可育和不育大蒜花在配子发育三个阶段的100 710个差异表达基因（DEG），其中许多涉及减数分裂过程中的同源染色体突触、MYB转录因子调控、核糖体生物发生和植物激素信号转导。总而言之，这些结果提供了对大蒜配子发育的分子机制和调控网络的深入了解，并指出了一组用于进一步功能表征的候选基因。