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The transcriptome landscape of floral development for the early‐diverging grass Pharus and insights into spikelet evolution.

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Title: The transcriptome landscape of floral development for the early‐diverging grass Pharus and insights into spikelet evolution.
Authors: Wang, Meng1,2 (AUTHOR), Lv, Shi‐Yu1,2 (AUTHOR), Gao, Shu‐Yang1,2 (AUTHOR), Liu, Liang‐Min1,2 (AUTHOR), Wu, Xu‐Kun1,2 (AUTHOR), Liu, Yun‐Long3 (AUTHOR), Li, De‐Zhu3 (AUTHOR) dzl@sdau.edu.cn, Jin, Guihua1 (AUTHOR) jinguihua@mail.kib.ac.cn, Ma, Peng‐Fei1 (AUTHOR) mapengfei@mail.kib.ac.cn
Source: Plant Journal. Jun2026, Vol. 126 Issue 5, p1-18. 18p.
Subjects: Flower development, Inflorescences, Grasses, Sex determination, Transcriptomes, Nucleotide sequencing
Abstract: SUMMARY: Spikelets represent a key innovation of grasses (Poaceae) with their arrangements in the inflorescence determining cereal yield. Genetic mechanisms underlying spikelet development were mainly investigated in the core grasses. Representing an early‐diverging grass lineage, Pharus bears the first evolved spikelets with primitive traits and unisexual flowers, making it ideal for exploring this issue. Here, we generated a comprehensive transcriptome atlas of inflorescence and spikelet development in Pharus latifolius, supported by an improved genome assembly. Six key developmental stages were identified for transcriptomic analyses, revealing dynamic expression programs primarily associated with meristem fate determination at early stages and organ specification later. Particularly, we identified conserved and lineage‐specific transcriptional regulators playing key roles in the Pharus sexual differentiation through retention of paralogs and divergent expression. By bridging the knowledge gap between early‐diverging and core grasses, our results shed new insights into the spikelet origin and provided valuable data for functional research on cereal grain production. Significance Statement: Our study sheds insights into the development of inflorescence and spikelet in the early‐diverging grasses by generating their comprehensive transcriptome atlas in Pharus latifolius, together with an improved genome assembly and annotation for this species. It also provides a valuable transcriptomic resource for studying the spikelet evolution in the grass family by addressing the critical gap between the early‐diverging and core grasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Database: Engineering Source
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Abstract:SUMMARY: Spikelets represent a key innovation of grasses (Poaceae) with their arrangements in the inflorescence determining cereal yield. Genetic mechanisms underlying spikelet development were mainly investigated in the core grasses. Representing an early‐diverging grass lineage, Pharus bears the first evolved spikelets with primitive traits and unisexual flowers, making it ideal for exploring this issue. Here, we generated a comprehensive transcriptome atlas of inflorescence and spikelet development in Pharus latifolius, supported by an improved genome assembly. Six key developmental stages were identified for transcriptomic analyses, revealing dynamic expression programs primarily associated with meristem fate determination at early stages and organ specification later. Particularly, we identified conserved and lineage‐specific transcriptional regulators playing key roles in the Pharus sexual differentiation through retention of paralogs and divergent expression. By bridging the knowledge gap between early‐diverging and core grasses, our results shed new insights into the spikelet origin and provided valuable data for functional research on cereal grain production. Significance Statement: Our study sheds insights into the development of inflorescence and spikelet in the early‐diverging grasses by generating their comprehensive transcriptome atlas in Pharus latifolius, together with an improved genome assembly and annotation for this species. It also provides a valuable transcriptomic resource for studying the spikelet evolution in the grass family by addressing the critical gap between the early‐diverging and core grasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
ISSN:09607412
DOI:10.1111/tpj.70965