Flower Bud Transcriptome Analysis of Sapium sebiferum (Linn.) Roxb. and Primary Investigation of Drought Induced Flowering: Pathway Construction and G-Quadruplex Prediction Based on Transcriptome

Sapium sebiferum (Linn.) Roxb. (Chinese Tallow Tree) is a perennial woody tree and its seeds are rich in oil which hold great potential for biodiesel production. Despite a traditional woody oil plant, our understanding on S. sebiferum genetics and molecular biology remains scant. In this study, the first comprehensive transcriptome of S. sebiferum flower has been generated by sequencing and de novo assembly. A total of 149,342 unigenes were generated from raw reads, of which 24,289 unigenes were successfully matched to public database. A total of 61 MADS box genes and putative pathways involved in S. sebiferum flower development have been identified. Abiotic stress response network was also constructed in this work, where 2,686 unigenes are involved in the pathway. As for lipid biosynthesis, 161 unigenes have been identified in fatty acid (FA) and triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis. Besides, the G-Quadruplexes in RNA of S. sebiferum also have been predicted. An interesting finding is that the stress-induced flowering was observed in S. sebiferum for the first time. According to the results of semi-quantitative PCR, expression tendencies of flowering-related genes, GA1, AP2 and CRY2, accorded with stress-related genes, such as GRX50435 and PRX parallel to 39562. This transcriptome provides functional genomic information for further research of S. sebiferum, especially for the genetic engineering to shorten the juvenile period and improve yield by regulating flower development. It also offers a useful database for the research of other Euphorbiaceae family plants.