De novo transcriptome assembly of the cotyledon of Camellia oleifera for discovery of genes regulating seed germination

Background Camellia oleifera (C.oleifera) is one of the most important wood oil species in the world. C.oleifera was propagated by nurse seedling grafting. Since the morphology of rootstocks has a significant impact on grafting efficiency and seedling quality, it is necessary to understand the molecular mechanism of morphogenesis for cultivating high-quality and controllable rootstocks. However, the genomic resource for this species is relatively limited, which hinders us from fully understanding the molecular mechanisms of seed germination in C.oleifera. Results In this paper, using transcriptome sequencing, we measured the gene expression in the C.oleifera cotyledon in different stages of development and the global gene expression profiles. Approximately 45.4 gigabases (GB) of paired-end clean reads were assembled into 113,582 unigenes with an average length of 396 bp. Six public protein databases annotate 61.5% (68,217) of unigenes. We identified 11,391 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) throughout different stages of germination. Enrichment analysis revealed that DEGs were mainly involved in hormone signal transduction and starch sucrose metabolism pathways. The gravitropism regulator UNE10, the meristem regulators STM, KNAT1, PLT2, and root-specific transcription factor WOX11 all have higher gene expression levels in the CAM2 stage (seed soaking), which indicates that the cotyledon-regulated program for germination had initiated when the seeds were imbibition. Our data showed differentially reprogrammed to multiple hormone-related genes in cotyledons during C.oleifera seed germination. Conclusion Cotyledons play vital roles, both as the main nutrient provider and as one primary instructor for seed germination and seedling growth. Together, our study will significantly enrich the genomic resources of Camellia and help us understand the molecular mechanisms of the development in the seed germination and seedling growth of C.oleifera. It is helpful to culture standard and superior quality rootstock for C.oleifera breeding.

Automated summary

In this study, the gene expression and global gene expression profiles during Camellia oleifera seed germination were analyzed using transcriptome sequencing. Differentially expressed genes were identified, indicating the role of cotyledons in seed germination and seedling growth. This study will contribute to the breeding and cultivation of C. oleifera.