PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Maud Irène Tenaillon
AU  - Khawla Sedikki
AU  - Maeva Mollion
AU  - Martine Le Guilloux
AU  - Elodie Marchadier
AU  - Adrienne Ressayre
AU  - Christine Dillmann
TI  - Transcriptomic response to divergent selection for flowering time in maize reveals convergence and key players of the underlying gene regulatory network
AID  - 10.1101/461947
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 461947
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/11/05/461947.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/11/05/461947.full
AB  - We undertook divergent selection experiments (Saclay DSEs) to investigate the genetic bases of phenotypic evolution in two inbred maize inbred lines, F252 and MBS847. The selected trait was flowering time. After 13 generations of selection, we obtained five distinct populations with a time-lag of roughly two weeks between Early- and Late/VeryLate-flowering populations. We used this unique material to characterize the genome-wide transcriptomic response to selection in the shoot apical meristem before, during and after floral transition in realistic field conditions during two consecutive years. We validated the reliability of performing RNA-sequencing in uncontrolled conditions. We found that roughly half of maize genes were expressed in the SAM, 59.3% of which were differentially expressed. We detected differential expression across meristem status, but also retrieved a subset of 2,451 genes involved in the response to selection. Among these, 22 genes displayed known function in maize flowering time. Furthermore, they were more often shared between inbreds than expected by chance, suggesting convergence of gene expression. We discuss new insights into the expression pattern of key players of the underlying gene regulatory network including ZCN8, RAP2.7, ZMM4, KN1, GA2ox1.One sentence summary Experimental evolution in maize inbred lines uncovers determinants of the response to selection and convergence of gene expression.M.I.T. and C.D. conceived the project and formulated the research plan; M.I.T, A.R. and C.D. supervised the experiments; M.L.G. provided technical assistance; K.S., M.M. set up the pipeline for the analyzes. M.I.T. and C.D. performed the data analyses; C.D. and E.M. helped with data analyzes and interpretations; M.I.T. and C.D. wrote the article with inputs from all the authors.