Abstract
Handeliodendron bodinieri has unisexual flowers with aborted stamens in female trees, which can be used to study unisexual flower development in tree species. To elucidate the molecular mechanism of stamen abortion underlying sex differentiation, the stage of stamen abortion was determined by semi-thin sections; results showed that stamen abortion occurred in stage 6 during anther development. In addition, differentially expressed transcripts regulating stamen abortion were identified by comparing the transcriptome of female flowers and male flowers with RNA-seq technique. The results showed that 14 genes related to anther development and meiosis such as HbGPAT, HbAMS, HbLAP5, HbLAP3, and HbTES were down-regulated, and HbML5 was up-regulated. Therefore, this information will provide a theoretical foundation for the conservation, breeding, scientific research, and application of Handeliodendron bodinieri.