Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Genetic Mechanism for Flowering Response in Two Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cultivars

Flowering time is an important food crop which affects people's livelihood and economy. Although, some genes have been identified to involved in controlling flowering time, a more depth understanding of the regulatory mechanisms underlying wheat flowering time is needed. In this study, we evaluated the flowering time of wheat cultivars "Truman" and "Deguo 2" and found that "Deguo 2" existed early flowering time, compared with "Truman." Further transcriptomic analysis showed that different molecular mechanisms of flowering time between "Truman" and "Deguo 2" and revealed a large number of DEGs, including circadian rhythm, plant horomone signaling, phenolamides and antioxidants. qRT-PCR analysis showed that expression trends of these genes in different pathways were consistent with RNA-seq-based transcriptome dataset. Co-expression analysis revealed that bHLH, bZIP, and MYB transcription factors were involved in the these genes regulation of various pathways. Taken together, our fundings showed that circadian rhythm, plant horomone signaling, phenolamides and antioxidants pathways are involved in controlling flowering time. The study will provide new insights on regulatory mechanisms and highlights some key candidate genes in controlling flowering time in wheat.