Fig 1.
L-morph and S-morph flowers and correlation between pistil length and flower bud length during development.
(A) Overview of L-morph and S-morph flowers. (B) The relationship between pistil length and flower bud in L-morph and S-morph flowers. The green dots indicate the relationship between bud length and pistil length in L-morph flowers. In S-morph flowers, the relationship is indicated in red when bud length < 10 mm and blue when bud length > 10 mm.
Fig 2.
Microspore germination on stigmas after self- or cross-pollination.
A, B and C show microspore germination on stigmas at 1 h, 4 h, or 24 h after L-morph flower self-pollination. D, E and F show microspore germination on stigmas at 1 h, 4 h, or 24 h after S-morph flower self-pollination. G show microspore germination on stigmas at 24 h after cross-pollination of S-morph pollen to L-morph stigma. H show microspore germination on stigmas at 24 h after cross-pollination of L-morph pollen to S-morph stigma. Scale bar = 100 μm.
Fig 3.
Observation of the pistil development in L-morph and S-morph flowers.
(A) Central cells and disintegration of antipodal cells in maturing embryo sac of L-morph flower. (B) The two synergids in maturing embryo sac of L-morph flower. (C) Mitosis prophase of megasporocyte in S-morph flower. (D) The two synergids, one egg cell, and central cell in maturing embryo sac of S-morph flower.
Table 1.
Upregulated proteins in pistils of S-morph flowers with a 1.5-fold change compared with L-morph flowers during development.
Table 2.
Downregulated proteins in pistils of S-morph flowers with a 1.5-fold change compared with L-morph flowers during development.
Table 3.
Upregulated proteins in pistils of S-morph flowers with a 1.5-fold change compared with L-morph flowers during maturity.
Table 4.
Downregulated proteins in pistils of S-morph flowers with a 1.5-fold change compared with L-morph flowers during maturity.
Fig 4.
qRT-PCR transcription level of genes related to heterostyly in different stages of S-morph and L-morph flowers.
Analysis of -expression of nine genes related to heterostyly in S-morph and L-morph flowers in eggplant by qRT-PCR at 0, 3, 6, 10, or 13 days after budding. Each bar represents the average of three samples ± standard error. Asterisks indicate significant differences (*, p < 0.05; **, p < 0.01).
Fig 5.
GO annotation of DEPs between L-morph and S-morph flowers at different stages.
The distribution of the top 35 enriched GO terms of DEPs during flower development (A) and maturity (B) is shown.
Fig 6.
KEGG pathway enrichment of the DEPs at different stages.
The distribution of the top 20 enriched KEGG pathways of DEPs during flower development (A) and maturity (B) is shown.
Fig 7.
Protein-protein interaction network analyzed by STRING software.
Network analysis results for significantly changed proteins between S-morph and L-morph flowers. The confidence score was set to ≥ 0.4 (medium). Different line colors represent the types of evidence for association. Known interactions: magenta = experimental evidence; light blue = database evidence. Predicted interactions: green = neighborhood evidence; red = fusion evidence; blue = co-occurrence evidence. Other: black = coexpression evidence; yellow = text-mining evidence; purple = protein homology.