Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), encoded by the interacting mitochondrial and nuclear genes, causes pollen abortion or non-viability. CMS is widely used in agriculture and extensively studied in crops. Much less is known about CMS in wild species. We performed a comparative transcriptomic analysis of male sterile and fertile individuals of Silene vulgaris, a model plant for the study of gynodioecy, to reveal the genes responsible for pollen abortion in this species. We used RNA-seq datasets previously employed for the analysis of mitochondrial and plastid transcriptomes of female and hermaphrodite flower buds, making it possible to compare the transcriptomes derived from three genomes in the same RNA specimen. We assembled de novo transcriptomes for two haplotypes of S. vulgaris and identified differentially expressed genes between the females and hermaphrodites, associated with stress response or pollen development. The gene for alternative oxidase was downregulated in females. The genetic pathways controlling CMS in S. vulgaris are similar to those in crops. The high number of the differentially expressed nuclear genes contrasts with the uniformity of organellar transcriptomes across genders, which suggests these pathways are evolutionarily conserved and that selective mechanisms may shield organellar transcription against changes in the cytoplasmic transcriptome.

• Keywords
• Silene vulgaris, cytoplasmic male sterility, differential gene expression,
• MeSH
• Molecular Sequence Annotation MeSH
• Cell Nucleus genetics   MeSH
• Down-Regulation genetics   MeSH
• Gene Ontology MeSH
• Haplotypes genetics   MeSH
• RNA, Messenger genetics   metabolism   MeSH
• Mitochondrial Proteins genetics   metabolism   MeSH
• Plant Infertility genetics   MeSH
• Oxidative Stress genetics   MeSH
• Oxidoreductases genetics   metabolism   MeSH
• Pollen genetics   MeSH
• Gene Expression Regulation, Plant * MeSH
• Plant Proteins genetics   metabolism   MeSH
• Silene genetics   physiology   MeSH
• Gene Expression Profiling * MeSH
• Transcriptome genetics   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't MeSH
• Names of Substances
• alternative oxidase MeSH Browser
• RNA, Messenger MeSH
• Mitochondrial Proteins MeSH
• Oxidoreductases MeSH
• Plant Proteins MeSH