College of Agriculture, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.
PeerJ. 2024 Sep 25;12:e17804. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17804. eCollection 2024.
Oat ( L.) is an annual grass that has a high nutritional value and therapeutic benefits. β-glucan is one of the most important nutrients in oats. In this study, we investigated two oat varieties with significant differences in β-glucan content (high β-glucan oat varieties BY and low β-glucan content oat variety DY) during different filling stages. We also studied the transcriptome sequencing of seeds at different filling stages. β-glucan accumulation was highest at days 6-16 in the filling stage. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were selected from the dataset of transcriptome sequencing. Among them, three metabolic pathways were closely related to the biosynthesis of β-glucan by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis, including xyloglucan:xyloglucosyl transferase activity, starch and sucrose metabolism, and photosynthesis. By analyzing the expression patterns of DEGs, we identified one gene and 32 transcription factors. Five modules were thought to be positively correlated with β-glucan accumulation by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Moreover, the expression levels of candidate genes obtained from the transcriptome sequencing were further validated by quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis. Our study provides a novel way to identify the regulatory mechanism of β-glucan synthesis and accumulation in oat seeds and offers a possible pathway for the genetic engineering of oat breeding for higher-quality seeds.
燕麦（L.）是一种一年生草本植物，具有很高的营养价值和治疗功效。β-葡聚糖是燕麦中最重要的营养成分之一。本研究在灌浆期对两种β-葡聚糖含量差异较大的燕麦品种（高β-葡聚糖燕麦品种 BY 和低β-葡聚糖含量燕麦品种 DY）进行了研究。同时，我们还对不同灌浆期的种子进行了转录组测序。结果表明，β-葡聚糖在灌浆期的第 6-16 天积累量最高。从转录组测序数据中选择差异表达基因（DEGs）。通过基因本体论（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）分析，其中 3 个代谢途径与β-葡聚糖的生物合成密切相关，包括木葡聚糖：木葡聚糖转移酶活性、淀粉和蔗糖代谢以及光合作用。通过分析 DEGs 的表达模式，鉴定出 1 个基因和 32 个转录因子。通过加权基因共表达网络分析（WGCNA），认为 5 个模块与β-葡聚糖的积累呈正相关。此外，通过定量实时 PCR（RT-qPCR）分析进一步验证了转录组测序获得的候选基因的表达水平。本研究为鉴定燕麦种子中β-葡聚糖合成和积累的调控机制提供了一种新方法，为燕麦优质种子的遗传工程育种提供了可能的途径。
