Santoro Danilo F, Puglisi Ivana, Sicilia Angelo, Baglieri Andrea, La Bella Emanuele, Lo Piero Angela Roberta
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Catania, via Santa Sofia 98, 95123 Catania, Italy.
AoB Plants. 2023 Jul 2;15(4):plad043. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/plad043. eCollection 2023 Jul.
To reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and maximize agricultural yields, the use of microalgae extracts as biostimulants has recently attracted significant attention due to their favourable impact on both plant growth and their ability to induce tolerance towards environmental stressors. Lettuce () is one of the most important fresh vegetables that often requires applications of chemical fertilizers to increase quality and productivity. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to analyse the transcriptome reprogramming of lettuce () seedlings in response to either or extracts by applying an RNAseq approach. Differential gene expression analysis revealed that the core gene set that responded to microalgal treatments in a species-independent manner includes 1330 clusters, 1184 of which were down-regulated and 146 up-regulated, clearly suggesting that the repression of gene expression is the main effect of algal treatments. The deregulation of 7197 transcripts in the treated seedlings compared to control samples (Cv vs. CK) and 7118 transcripts in the treated seedlings compared to control samples (Sq vs. CK) were counted. Although the number of deregulated genes turned out to be similar between the algal treatments, the level of deregulation was higher in Cv versus CK than in Sq versus CK. In addition, 2439 deregulated transcripts were observed in the treated seedlings compared to treated samples (Cv vs. Sq comparison) suggesting that a specific transcriptomic profile was induced by the single algal extracts. 'Plant hormone signal transduction' category includes a very elevated number of DEGs, many of them specifically indicating that actives both genes involved in the auxin biosynthesis and transduction pathways, whereas up-regulates genes implicated in the cytokinin biosynthesis pathway. Finally, algal treatments induced the deregulation of genes encoding small hormone-like molecules that are known to act alone or by interacting with major plant hormones. In conclusion, this study offers the groundwork to draw up a list of putative gene targets with the aim of lettuce genetic improvement that will allow a limited or even null use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides in the management of this crop.
为减少化肥使用并实现农业产量最大化，微藻提取物作为生物刺激剂的应用近来备受关注，因为它们对植物生长具有积极影响，且能诱导植物对环境胁迫产生耐受性。生菜（）是最重要的新鲜蔬菜之一，常需施用化肥以提高品质和产量。因此，本研究旨在通过RNA测序方法分析生菜（）幼苗对或提取物的转录组重编程。差异基因表达分析表明，以物种独立方式对微藻处理产生响应的核心基因集包含1330个聚类，其中1184个下调，146个上调，这清楚表明基因表达的抑制是藻类处理的主要效应。统计了处理幼苗与对照样本（Cv与CK）相比7197个转录本的失调情况，以及处理幼苗与对照样本（Sq与CK）相比7118个转录本的失调情况。尽管藻类处理之间失调基因的数量相似，但Cv与CK之间的失调水平高于Sq与CK。此外，处理幼苗与处理样本（Cv与Sq比较）相比观察到2439个失调转录本，表明单一藻类提取物诱导了特定的转录组谱。“植物激素信号转导”类别包含大量差异表达基因，其中许多特别表明激活了生长素生物合成和转导途径中的相关基因，而上调了细胞分裂素生物合成途径中的相关基因。最后，藻类处理诱导了编码小激素样分子的基因失调，这些分子已知可单独发挥作用或与主要植物激素相互作用。总之，本研究为列出假定的基因靶点清单奠定了基础，旨在改善生菜遗传特性，从而在该作物的管理中减少或甚至不使用合成肥料和农药。
