Defining the developmental program leading to meiosis in maize

First author: Brad Nelms; Affiliations: Stanford University (斯坦福大学): Stanford, USA

Corresponding author: Virginia Walbot

In multicellular organisms, the entry into meiosis is a complex process characterized by increasing meiotic specialization. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we reconstructed the developmental program into maize male meiosis. A smooth continuum of expression stages before meiosis was followed by a two-step transcriptome reorganization in leptotene, during which 26.7% of transcripts changed in abundance by twofold or more. Analysis of cell-cycle gene expression indicated that nearly all pregerminal cells proliferate, eliminating a stem-cell model to generate meiotic cells. Mutants defective in somatic differentiation or meiotic commitment expressed transcripts normally present in early meiosis after a delay; thus, the germinal transcriptional program is cell autonomous and can proceed despite meiotic failure.

在多细胞生物中，进入减数分裂是一个非常复杂的过程，其中一个重要特征就是减数分裂特化增加。利用单细胞测序，作者重建了玉米雄性减数分裂的发育进程。在减数分裂之前，整个转录组的表达呈平缓连续变化，接着在细线期经历了两次转录重组，大约有26.7%的转录本的转录变化超过两倍。作者对细胞周期相关基因的表达分析显示原生殖细胞都经历了增殖，消除干细胞系统来产生能够减数分裂的细胞。体细胞分化或减数分裂存在缺陷的突变株虽然存在延迟，但所有转录本的表达在减数分裂早期都很正；因此，生殖转录编程是细胞自主性的，可以在减数分裂失败的情况下依然继续进行。

通讯：Virginia Walbot (https://biology.stanford.edu/people/virginia-walbot)

个人简介：1967年，斯坦福大学，学士；1969年，耶鲁大学，硕士；1972年，耶鲁大学，博士；1972-1975年，乔治亚大学，博士后。

研究方向：在植物的生命周期中，表型和基因型的多样性是如何产生的。

doi: 10.1126/science.aav6428

Journal: Science

Published date: April 05, 2019