College of Grassland Resources and Environment, Key Laboratory of Forage Cultivation, Processing and High Efficient Utilization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Key Laboratory of Grassland Resources of the Ministry of Education, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, 010011, China.
Sichuan Academy of Grassland Sciences, Chengdu, 611731, China.
BMC Genomics. 2018 Nov 7;19(1):807. doi: 10.1186/s12864-018-5180-1.
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is a widely cultivated, essential commercial forage crop. The protein content in its leaves is the critical factor in determining the quality of alfalfa. Thus far, the understanding of the molecular mechanism of alfalfa defoliation traits remains unclear. The transcriptome database created by RNA-Seq is used to identify critical genes related to defoliation traits.
In this study, we sequenced the transcriptomes of the Zhungeer variety (with easy leaf abscission) and WL319HQ variety (without easy leaf abscission). Among the identified 66,734 unigenes, 706 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) upregulated, and 392 unigenes downregulated in the Zhungeer vs WL319HQ leaf. KEGG pathway annotations showed that 8,414 unigenes were annotated to 87 pathways and contained 281 DEGs. Six DEGs belonging to the "Carotenoid biosynthesis", "Plant hormone signal transduction" and "Circadian rhythm-plant" pathways involved in defoliation traits were identified and validated by RT-qPCR analyses.
This study used RNA-Seq to discover genes associated with defoliation traits between two alfalfa varieties. Our transcriptome data dramatically enriches alfalfa functional genomic studies. In addition, these data provide theoretical guidance for field production practice and genetic breeding, as well as references for future study of defoliation traits in alfalfa.
紫花苜蓿（Medicago sativa）是一种广泛种植的重要商业饲料作物。其叶片中的蛋白质含量是决定苜蓿质量的关键因素。迄今为止，苜蓿刈割性状的分子机制尚不清楚。利用 RNA-Seq 构建的转录组数据库来鉴定与刈割性状相关的关键基因。
本研究对易落叶的准格尔品种和不易落叶的 WL319HQ 品种进行了转录组测序。在鉴定的 66734 个 unigenes 中，有 706 个上调的差异表达基因（DEGs）和 392 个下调的 unigenes。KEGG 通路注释显示，8414 个 unigenes被注释到 87 条通路，其中包含 281 个 DEGs。通过 RT-qPCR 分析，鉴定并验证了属于“类胡萝卜素生物合成”、“植物激素信号转导”和“昼夜节律-植物”途径的 6 个 DEGs 与刈割性状有关。
本研究利用 RNA-Seq 发现了两个紫花苜蓿品种间与刈割性状相关的基因。我们的转录组数据极大地丰富了紫花苜蓿功能基因组学研究。此外，这些数据为田间生产实践和遗传育种提供了理论指导，也为紫花苜蓿刈割性状的未来研究提供了参考。
