Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037, China.
BMC Plant Biol. 2019 May 6;19(1):185. doi: 10.1186/s12870-019-1797-8.
Passiflora edulis, known as passion fruit and native to South America, is now widely cultivated throughout southern China for its edible value, medicinal efficacy and ornamental properties. We have developed a cold-tolerant variety of P. edulis ('Pingtang 1') that can survive subzero temperatures and is highly adaptable in Karst areas. In this study, cuttings of 'Pingtang 1' were cultivated in a limestone (L) rocky desertification area and a sandy dolomite (D) rock desertification area. Changes in nutrient elements in both the soils and plants were revealed in the two plots. Moreover, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was performed to profile the root transcriptomes for further exploration of nutrient adaptative mechanism of Passiflora edulis in Karst regions.
In this study, a total of, 244,705,162 clean reads were generated from four cDNA libraries and assembled into 84,198 unigenes, of which 56,962 were annotated by publicly available databases. Transcriptome profiles were generated, and 1314 unigenes (531 upregulated and 801 downregulated) were significantly differentially expressed between the L and D root cDNA libraries (L_R and D_R, respectively); these profiles provide a global overview of the gene expression patterns associated with P. edulis adaptability to Karst soils. Most unigenes including a number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were involved in nutrient element uptake, utilization, signal regulation. And DEGs enriched in KEGG pathways of plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids were significantly expressed.
These results could contribute to better understanding the adaptation of this species to environmental stress and thus enhance the potential for successfully introducing and commercially deploying P. edulis.
西番莲，俗称百香果，原产于南美洲，现广泛种植于中国南方，具有食用价值、药用功效和观赏价值。我们培育出了一种耐寒的西番莲品种（“平塘 1 号”），能够耐受零下的温度，并且在喀斯特地区具有很强的适应性。在本研究中，我们在石灰岩（L）石漠化区和含白云质的砂页岩（D）石漠化区种植了“平塘 1 号”插条。在这两个试验区，我们揭示了土壤和植物中养分元素的变化。此外，我们还进行了 RNA 测序（RNA-Seq），对根系转录组进行了分析，以进一步探索西番莲在喀斯特地区的养分适应性机制。
在本研究中，从四个 cDNA 文库中总共生成了 244,705,162 条清洁读数，并组装成 84,198 个非编码 RNA 基因，其中 56,962 个被公共数据库注释。生成了转录组图谱，并且在 L 和 D 根 cDNA 文库（L_R 和 D_R，分别）之间，有 1314 个非编码 RNA 基因（531 个上调和 801 个下调）显著差异表达；这些图谱提供了与西番莲适应喀斯特土壤相关的基因表达模式的全面概述。大多数非编码 RNA 基因，包括一些差异表达基因（DEGs），参与了养分元素的摄取、利用、信号调节。并且在植物激素信号转导、苯丙烷生物合成和不饱和脂肪酸生物合成的 KEGG 途径中，DEGs 明显富集。
这些结果有助于更好地理解该物种对环境胁迫的适应，从而提高成功引入和商业部署西番莲的潜力。
