Abstract
Background: The deficiency of cross-pollination leads to low yields and poor quality of Chinese bayberry. Obtaining pollen with transparent sources and superior characteristics is the key to enhancing the quality of bayberry and cultivating new varieties of excellent quality.
Main body: We discovered incidentally that spraying tenlobulozole could induce the differentiation of female bayberry flower buds into male flowers. By applying different plant growth regulators on the female branches of bayberry, the flower buds of female bayberry were prompted to transform into male flowers. The flower bud slices and pollen activity were observed, and the mechanism was analyzed by integrating transcriptomics and metabolomics.
Conclusion: The results indicated that spraying uniconazole on the female branches of waxberry trees could induce spring shoots to differentiate into male flowers and generate reproductive active waxberry pollen. The mechanism might be to reduce the transport and content of gibberellin and other plant hormones by inhibiting the expression of critical genes, such as gene-CJ030_MR4G011967. Furthermore, the expression of the gene CJ030_MR0G004521 was promoted to regulate the differentiation of female bayberry flower buds into male flowers. Through this approach, pollen with clear sources and outstanding characteristics can be acquired, resolving issues such as low cross-pollination affinity, ensuring the quality of bayberry, and offering new concepts for bayberry breeding.