Integrated Analysis of Transcriptome and Metabolome in Cirsium japonicum Fisch ex DC

Niche differentiation modulates metabolites abundance and composition in silicon fertilizer amended soil during sugarcane growth

BACKGROUND

As one of the vital crops globally, sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) has been one of model crops for conducting metabolome research. Although many studies have focused on understanding bioactive components in specific sugarcane tissues, crucial questions have been left unanswered about the response of metabolites to niche differentiation such as different sugarcane tissues (leaf, stem and root), and soil regions (rhizosphere and bulk) under silicon (Si) amended soils. Here, nontargeted metabolite profiling method was leveraged to assess the similarities and differences in the abundance and community composition of metabolites in the different sugarcane and soil compartments. Identify the compartment-specific expression patterns of metabolites, and their association with cane agronomic traits and edaphic factors. We also investigated the response of sugarcane agronomic traits and edaphic factors to Si amended soil.

RESULTS

We found that Si fertilizer exhibited the advantages of overwhelmingly promoting the height and theoretical production of cane, and profoundly increased soil Si content by 24.8 and 27.0%, while soil available potassium (AK) was enhanced by 3.07 and 2.67 folds in the bulk and rhizosphere soils, respectively. It was also noticed that available phosphorus (AP) in the rhizosphere soil tremendously increased by 105.5%. We detected 339 metabolites in 30 samples using LC-MS/MS analyses, 161 of which were classified and annotated, including organooxygen compounds (19.9%), carboxylic acids and derivatives (15.5%), fatty acyls (15.5%), flavonoids (4.4%), phenols (4.4%), and benzene and substituted derivatives (3.7%). In addition, the total percentages covered by these core metabolites in each compartment ranged from 94.0% (bulk soil) to 93.4% (rhizosphere soil), followed by 87.4% (leaf), 81.0% (root) and 80.5% (stem), suggesting that these bioactive compounds may have migrated from the belowground tissues and gradually filtered in various aboveground niches of the plant. We also observed that the variations and enrichment of metabolites abundance and community were compartment-specific. Furthermore, some key bioactive compounds were markedly associated with plant growth parameters and soil edaphic.

CONCLUSION

Taken together, we hypothesized that Si utilization can exhibit the advantage of enhancing edaphic factors and cane agronomic traits, and variations in metabolites community are tissue-specific.

Impact of copper treatment on phenylpropanoid biosynthesis in adventitious root culture of Althaea officinalis L

Althaea officinalis has been widely used in various pharmaceutical applications. The biological effects and significance of phenylpropanoids in numerous industries are well studied. However, fulfilling consumer demand for these commercially important compounds is difficult. The effect of heavy-metal toxic influence on plants is primarily due to a strong and rapid suppression of growth processes, as well as the decline in activity of the photosynthetic apparatus, also associated with progressing senescence processes. Some of the secondary metabolite production was triggered by the application of heavy metals, but there was not a stress response. In the adventitious root culture of A. officinalis, copper-mediated phenylpropanoid biosynthesis has been investigated in both concentration-and duration-dependent manners. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed a total of nine different phenolic compounds in response to different concentrations of copper chloride. In this study, high productivity of phenolic compounds was observed in the copper chloride treated-adventitious root culture of A. officianalis. In particular, a low concentration of copper chloride led to a significant accumulation of phenolic compounds under optimal conditions. Moreover, all genes responsible for phenylpropanoid biosynthesis may be sensitive to phenolic compound production following copper treatment. Especially, the highest change in transcript level was observed from AoANS at 6 h. According to our findings, treatment with copper chloride (0.5 mM) for 48 or 96 h can be an appropriate method to maximize phenylpropanoid levels in A. officinalis adventitious root culture.