Analysis of floral development related gene co-expression networks in Arabidopsis thaliana

The study of flower development is of great scientific, practical and applicable importance; because in thisway, flowering control can be provided in plants. For example, it can be used in the production of male sterileplants to produce hybrid seeds. It should be noted that many regulatory genes are involved in the floweringprocess that have been identified previously. The interactions of genes involved with the formation of flowercomponents are complex. In general, identifying the function of individual genes involved in flowerdevelopment has not led to a complete and accurate understanding of the developmental process. In order toovercome this challenge, nine co-expression genes network of Arabidopsis taliana for two wild and threemutant ecotypes were reconstructed and analysed using WGCNA R package and cytoscape softwareplatform. In the continuation of the research, the modules involved in trait control were identified andcompared. After performing costumized RandomWalk algorithm on the co-expression networks, ۱۰ keygenes in addition to the deed genes used in this study were determined that has have important role in phasetransition. Topological anf functional analysis of the networks indicated deeper changes during the phasetransition phenomena in biochemical pathways (alternative passways were activated). In conclusion,focusing on the hormone alternative pathways could provide novel approaches to control flowering bygenetic engineering.

Keywords:

systems biology , Arabidopsis thaliana , floral development , network analysis , community detection , flower differentiation