Institute of Food Crops, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan 430064, China.
College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434025, China.
Genes (Basel). 2024 Oct 14;15(10):1319. doi: 10.3390/genes15101319.
Sweet potato ( (L.) Lam.) is widely cultivated as an important food crop. However, the molecular regulatory mechanisms affecting root tuber development are not well understood.
The aim of this study was to systematically reveal the regulatory network of sweet potato root enlargement through transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis in different early stages of sweet potato root development, combined with phenotypic and anatomical observations.
Using RNA-seq, we found that the differential genes of the S1 vs. S2, S3 vs. S4, and S4 vs. S5 comparison groups were enriched in the phenylpropane biosynthesis pathway during five developmental stages and identified 67 differentially expressed transcription factors, including AP2, NAC, bHLH, MYB, and C2H2 families. Based on the metabolome, K-means cluster analysis showed that lipids, organic acids, organic oxides, and other substances accumulated differentially in different growth stages. Transcriptome, metabolome, and prophetypic data indicate that the S3-S4 stage is the key stage of root development of sweet potato. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) showed that transcriptome differential genes were mainly enriched in fructose and mannose metabolism, pentose phosphate, selenium compound metabolism, glycolysis/gluconogenesis, carbon metabolism, and other pathways. The metabolites of different metabolites are mainly concentrated in amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism, flavonoid biosynthesis, alkaloid biosynthesis, pantothenic acid, and coenzyme A biosynthesis. Based on WGCNA analysis of gene-metabolite correlation, 44 differential genes and 31 differential metabolites with high correlation were identified.
This study revealed key gene and metabolite changes in early development of sweet potato root tuber and pointed out potential regulatory networks, providing new insights into sweet potato root tuber development and valuable reference for future genetic improvement.
番薯（(L.) Lam.）作为一种重要的粮食作物被广泛种植。然而，影响块根发育的分子调控机制尚不清楚。
本研究旨在通过转录组和代谢组分析，结合表型和解剖学观察，系统揭示不同早期番薯根发育过程中的调控网络。
利用 RNA-seq，我们发现 S1 与 S2、S3 与 S4、S4 与 S5 比较组的差异基因在五个发育阶段的苯丙烷生物合成途径中富集，并鉴定了 67 个差异表达的转录因子，包括 AP2、NAC、bHLH、MYB 和 C2H2 家族。基于代谢组学，K-means 聚类分析表明，不同生长阶段的脂质、有机酸、有机氧化物等物质积累存在差异。转录组、代谢组和预测数据表明，S3-S4 阶段是番薯根发育的关键阶段。加权基因共表达网络分析（WGCNA）表明，转录组差异基因主要富集在果糖和甘露糖代谢、戊糖磷酸、硒化合物代谢、糖酵解/葡糖生成、碳代谢和其他途径中。不同代谢物的代谢物主要集中在氨基糖和核苷酸糖代谢、类黄酮生物合成、生物碱生物合成、泛酸和辅酶 A 生物合成中。基于 WGCNA 分析基因-代谢物相关性，鉴定出 44 个差异基因和 31 个高相关的差异代谢物。
本研究揭示了番薯早期根发育过程中的关键基因和代谢物变化，并指出了潜在的调控网络，为番薯根发育提供了新的见解，为未来的遗传改良提供了有价值的参考。
