Abstract

Garlic is widely used as a spice throughout the world. In this study, transcriptional profilings of garlic shoot apex were performed by using the Illumina technology. A total of 45,363 significantly changed expressed transcripts were detected between the dormant and sprouting garlic shoot apex libraries. The expression of 22,836 unigenes was increased by more than 2-fold in sprouting garlic shoot apex as compared with dormant shoot apex (up-regulated unigene), and 22,526 unigenes were identified as having been down-regulated. Gene ontology (GO) annotations indicated that the differentially expressed genes were mainly played role in nucleotide binding, plastid, hydrolase activity, transferase activity, protein metabolic process, nucleic acid binding, protein binding, mitochondrion. A total of 8,725 differentially expressed genes were assigned to five Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) biochemical pathways, including metabolism, genetic information processing, organism system, cellular processes, and environmental information processing. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) was performed to dissect shoot apex sprouting. The differential expression of genes, such as ENHYDROUS, DAG1, DAM, DTH8, indicate that they play a critical role in shoot apex sprouting. These differentially expressed genes comprise related candidates for shoot apex sprouting regulation in Allium species.

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