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Zhou C, Zhao R, Wang H, Liu B, Yu Y, Jiang L. Untargeted Metabolome Analyses Revealed Potential Metabolic Mechanisms of Leymus chinensis in Response to Simulated Animal Feeding. Int J Mol Sci 2024; 25:6110. [PMID: 38892301 PMCID: PMC11173140 DOI: 10.3390/ijms25116110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2024] [Revised: 05/25/2024] [Accepted: 05/29/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel., also known as the "Alkali Grass", is a major forage grass in the eastern and northeastern steppe vegetation in the Songnen Prairie. It is of great practical significance for grassland management to understand the influence of animal saliva on L. chinensis during animal feeding. In this study, we used clipping and daubing animal saliva to simulate responses to grazing by L. chinensis, and analyzed the physiological and metabolomic changes in response to simulated animal feeding. Results showed that the effects of animal saliva on physiological and metabolic processes of the treated plants produced a recovery phenomenon. Moreover, the effects of animal saliva produced a large number of differential metabolites related to several known metabolic pathways, among which the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway has undergone significant and persistent changes. We posit that the potential metabolic mechanisms of L. chinensis in response to simulated animal feeding are closely related to flavonoid biosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chunxu Zhou
- College of Life Sciences, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, China
| | - Ruiqi Zhao
- College of Life Sciences, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, China
| | - Han Wang
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Epigenetics of MOE, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
| | - Bao Liu
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Epigenetics of MOE, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
| | - Yingjie Yu
- College of Life Sciences, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, China
| | - Lili Jiang
- Key Laboratory of Molecular Epigenetics of MOE, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
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Yin J, Ren W, Fry EL, Sun S, Han H, Guo F. DNA methylation mediates overgrazing-induced clonal transgenerational plasticity. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 897:165338. [PMID: 37414175 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2023] [Revised: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 07/03/2023] [Indexed: 07/08/2023]
Abstract
Overgrazing generally induces dwarfism in grassland plants, and these phenotypic traits could be transmitted to clonal offspring even when overgrazing is excluded. However, the dwarfism-transmitted mechanism remains largely unknown, despite generally thought to be enabled by epigenetic modification. To clarify the potential role of DNA methylation on clonal transgenerational effects, we conducted a greenhouse experiment with Leymus chinensis clonal offspring from different cattle/sheep overgrazing histories via the demethylating agent 5-azacytidine. The results showed that clonal offspring from overgrazed (by cattle or sheep) parents were dwarfed and the auxin content of leaves significantly decreased compared to offspring from no-grazed parents'. The 5-azaC application generally increased the auxin content and promoted the growth of overgrazed offspring while inhibited no-grazed offspring growth. Meanwhile, there were similar trends in the expression level of genes related to auxin-responsive target genes (ARF7, ARF19), and signal transduction gene (AZF2). These results suggest that DNA methylation leads to overgrazing-induced plant transgenerational dwarfism via inhibiting auxin signal pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingjing Yin
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Weibo Ren
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China; Key Laboratory of Forage Breeding and Seed Production of Inner Mongolia, Inner Mongolia M-Grass Ecology and Environment (Group) Co., Ltd., Hohhot 010016, China.
| | - Ellen L Fry
- Department of Biology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP, UK
| | - Siyuan Sun
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Huijie Han
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Fenghui Guo
- Industrial Crop Institute, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taiyuan, China
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Wan D, Wan Y, Zhang T, Wang R, Ding Y. Multi-omics analysis reveals the molecular changes accompanying heavy-grazing-induced dwarfing of Stipa grandis. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:995074. [PMID: 36407579 PMCID: PMC9673880 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.995074] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2022] [Accepted: 08/26/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Heavy grazing significantly reduces Stipa grandis growth. To enhance our understanding of plant responses to heavy grazing, we conducted transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolic analyses of the leaves of non-grazed plants (NG) and heavy-grazing-induced dwarf plants (HG) of S. grandis. A total of 101 metabolites, 167 proteins, and 1,268 genes differed in abundance between the HG and NG groups. Analysis of Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways among differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) revealed that the most enriched pathways were flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, tryptophan metabolism, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. An integrative analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and proteins, and DAMs in these three pathways was performed. Heavy-grazing-induced dwarfism decreased the accumulation of DAMs enriched in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, among which four DAMs were associated with lignin biosynthesis. In contrast, all DAMs enriched in flavone and flavonol biosynthesis and tryptophan metabolism showed increased accumulation in HG compared with NG plants. Among the DAMs enriched in tryptophan metabolism, three were involved in tryptophan-dependent IAA biosynthesis. Some of the DEGs and proteins enriched in these pathways showed different expression trends. The results indicated that these pathways play important roles in the regulation of growth and grazing-associated stress adaptions of S. grandis. This study enriches the knowledge of the mechanism of heavy-grazing-induced growth inhibition of S. grandis and provides valuable information for restoration of the productivity in degraded grassland.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongli Wan
- Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, China
| | - Yongqing Wan
- College of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
| | - Tongrui Zhang
- Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, China
| | - Ruigang Wang
- College of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, China
| | - Yong Ding
- Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hohhot, China
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Wang Y, Zhu W, Ren F, Zhao N, Xu S, Sun P. Transcriptional Memory in Taraxacum mongolicum in Response to Long-Term Different Grazing Intensities. PLANTS 2022; 11:plants11172251. [PMID: 36079633 PMCID: PMC9460496 DOI: 10.3390/plants11172251] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2022] [Revised: 08/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Grazing, as an important land use method in grassland, has a significant impact on the morphological and physiological traits of plants. However, little is known about how the molecular mechanism of plant responds to different grazing intensities. Here, we investigated the response of Taraxacum mongolicum to light grazing and heavy grazing intensities in comparison with a non-grazing control. Using de novo transcriptome assembly, T. mongolicum leaves were compared for the expression of the different genes under different grazing intensities in natural grassland. In total, 194,253 transcripts were de novo assembled and comprised in nine leaf tissues. Among them, 11,134 and 9058 genes were differentially expressed in light grazing and heavy grazing grassland separately, with 5867 genes that were identified as co-expression genes in two grazing treatments. The Nr, SwissProt, String, GO, KEGG, and COG analyses by BLASTx searches were performed to determine and further understand the biological functions of those differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Analysis of the expression patterns of 10 DEGs by quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) confirmed the accuracy of the RNA-Seq results. Based on a comparative transcriptome analysis, the most significant transcriptomic changes that were observed under grazing intensity were related to plant hormone and signal transduction pathways, carbohydrate and secondary metabolism, and photosynthesis. In addition, heavy grazing resulted in a stronger transcriptomic response compared with light grazing through increasing the of the secondary metabolism- and photosynthesis-related genes. These changes in key pathways and related genes suggest that they may synergistically respond to grazing to increase the resilience and stress tolerance of T. mongolicum. Our findings provide important clues for improving grassland use and protection and understanding the molecular mechanisms of plant response to grazing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yalin Wang
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China
- Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, China
| | - Wenyan Zhu
- College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China
| | - Fei Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
| | - Na Zhao
- College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China
| | - Shixiao Xu
- College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China
- Correspondence: (S.X.); (P.S.); Tel.: +86-13997163501 (S.X.); +86-13525415882 (P.S.)
| | - Ping Sun
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China
- State Key Laboratory of Plateau Ecology and Agriculture, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
- Correspondence: (S.X.); (P.S.); Tel.: +86-13997163501 (S.X.); +86-13525415882 (P.S.)
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Qu K, Cheng Y, Gao K, Ren W, Fry EL, Yin J, Liu Y. Growth-Defense Trade-Offs Induced by Long-term Overgrazing Could Act as a Stress Memory. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2022; 13:917354. [PMID: 35720531 PMCID: PMC9201768 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.917354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
Long-term overgrazing (OG) is one of the key drivers of global grassland degradation with severe loss of productivity and ecosystem functions, which may result in stress memory such as smaller stature of grassland plants. However, how the OG-induced stress memory could be regulated by phytohormones is unknown. In this study, we investigated the changes of four phytohormones of cloned offspring of Leymus chinensis that were developed from no-grazing (NG) plants and OG plants with a grazing history of 30 years. The concentrations of auxin (IAA) and gibberellic acid (GA) in OG plant leaves were 45% and 20% lower than control, respectively. Meanwhile, the level of abscisic acid (ABA) in OG leaves nearly doubled compared with that in NG leaves. The situation was quite similar in roots. Unexpectedly, no significant changes in the jasmonic acid (JA) level were observed between OG and NG plants. The changes in gene expression patterns between OG and NG plants were also investigated by transcriptomic analysis. In total, 302 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified between OG and NG plants, which were mainly classified into the functions of synthesis, receptor, and signal transduction processes of phytohormones. The expression of 24 key genes related to the biosynthesis and signal transduction of IAA and GA was downregulated in OG plants. Among them, OASA1 and AO1 (regulating the biosynthesis of IAA and ABA, respectively) were reduced significantly by 88 and 92%, respectively. In addition, the content of secondary metabolites related to plant defense such as flavonoids and phenols was also increased in leaves. Taken together, the decrease of positive plant growth-related hormones (IAA and GA) together with the increase of plant stress-related hormones or factors (ABA, flavonoids, and phenols) induced the growth-defense trade-offs for L. chinensis adaptation to long-term OG stress. The findings reported in this study shed new light on the mechanism of plant-animal interaction in the grassland ecosystem and provide a deeper insight into optimizing grazing management and sustainable utilization of grassland.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kairi Qu
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Yunxiang Cheng
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Kairu Gao
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Weibo Ren
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Ellen L. Fry
- Department of Biology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, United Kingdom
| | - Jingjing Yin
- School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
| | - Yaling Liu
- Inner Mongolia Mongolian Grass Seed Industry Science and Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., Hohhot, China
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