Huang Lu, Umer Muhammad J, Liu Hao, Li Haifen, Wang Runfeng, Yu Qianxia, Li Shaoxiong, Varshney Rajeev K, Pandey Manish K, Hong Yanbin, Lu Qing, Chen Xiaoping
Crops Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, South China Peanut Sub-Centre of National Centre of Oilseed Crops Improvement, Guangzhou, China.
WA State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, Food Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA, Australia.
BMC Plant Biol. 2025 Jul 2;25(1):806. doi: 10.1186/s12870-025-06880-5.
Peanuts are important oil crop with an atypical fruitification pattern. Darkness and mechanical stimulation are required to facilitate normal pod development. Despite some progress in understanding peanut pod development and its response to external environmental stimulation, numerous unresolved questions and knowledge gaps remain regarding the role of darkness and mechanical stimulation in this complex process.
In this study, we investigated the impacts of dark and mechanical stimulation on peanut pod development via transcriptome. A total of 55,087 genes, along with a series of DEGs and pathways, were identified among different treatment groups (CK, TB, TML, and TMB) that play crucial roles and offer a novel perspective on the role of photosynthesis during peanut pod development. Moreover, by utilizing weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) we identified several hub genes (e.g., IAA9 (Ahy_B07g086610), BSK5 (Ahy_B03g068305), GRF7 (Ahy_B10g103808), and PER17 (Ahy_B10g105104)) and key pathways (e.g., plant hormonal and signal transduction pathway, and lignin biosynthesis pathway) that might be true candidates for peanut pod development. Further, the expression patterns of key candidates were validated via qRT-PCR during different pod development stages.
Overall, this study provides a comprehensive characterization of the mechanisms underlying peanut pod development in response to darkness and mechanical stimulation. These findings lay a foundation for exploring optimized growth conditions for peanut cultivation, while the identified key genes may serve as potential targets in future peanut breeding programs.
花生是一种具有非典型结果模式的重要油料作物。需要黑暗和机械刺激来促进正常荚果发育。尽管在理解花生荚果发育及其对外部环境刺激的反应方面取得了一些进展，但关于黑暗和机械刺激在这一复杂过程中的作用，仍有许多未解决的问题和知识空白。
在本研究中，我们通过转录组研究了黑暗和机械刺激对花生荚果发育的影响。在不同处理组（CK、TB、TML和TMB）中鉴定出总共55,087个基因，以及一系列差异表达基因（DEGs）和途径，它们在花生荚果发育过程中发挥着关键作用，并为光合作用的作用提供了新的视角。此外，通过利用加权基因共表达网络分析（WGCNA），我们鉴定出了几个枢纽基因（例如，IAA9（Ahy_B07g086610）、BSK5（Ahy_B03g068305）、GRF7（Ahy_B10g103808）和PER17（Ahy_B10g105104））以及关键途径（例如，植物激素和信号转导途径，以及木质素生物合成途径），这些可能是花生荚果发育的真正候选因素。此外，在不同荚果发育阶段通过qRT-PCR验证了关键候选基因的表达模式。
总体而言，本研究全面表征了花生荚果发育对黑暗和机械刺激响应的潜在机制。这些发现为探索花生种植的优化生长条件奠定了基础，而鉴定出的关键基因可能成为未来花生育种计划的潜在靶点。
