Abstract
Main conclusion
Integrated transcriptome and physiological analysis of apricot leaves after Fusarium solani treatment. In addition, we identified core transcription factors and flavonoid-related synthase genes which may function in apricot disease resistance.
Abstract
Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) is an important economic fruit species, whose yield and quality of fruit are limited owing to its susceptibility to diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the response of P. armeniaca to diseases is still unknown. In this study, we used physiology and transcriptome analysis to characterize responses of P. armeniaca subjected to Fusarium solani. The results showed increasing malondialdehyde (MDA) content, enhanced peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) activity during F. solani infestation. A large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), which included 4281 upregulated DEGs and 3305 downregulated DEGs, were detected in P. armeniaca leaves exposed to F. solani infestation. Changes in expression of transcription factors (TFs), including bHLH, AP2/ERF, and WRKY indicated their role in triggering pathogen-responsive genes in P. armeniaca. During the P. armeniaca response to F. solani infestation, the content of total flavonoid was changed, and we identified enzyme genes associated with flavonoid biosynthesis. Ectopic overexpression of PabHLH15 and PabHLH102 in Nicotiana benthamiana conferred elevated resistance to Fspa_1. Moreover, PabHLH15 and PabHLH102 positively interact with the promoter of flavonoid biosynthesis-related genes. A regulatory network of TFs regulating enzyme genes related to flavonoid synthesis affecting apricot disease resistance was constructed. These results reveal the potential underlying mechanisms of the F. solani response of P. armeniaca, which would help improve the disease resistance of P. armeniaca and may cultivate high-quality disease-resistant varieties in the future.
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Data availability
The RNA-seq data were submitted to NCBI SRA: PRJNA935518.
Abbreviations
- CAT:
-
Catalase
- DEG:
-
Differentially expressed gene
- dpi:
-
Day post-infection
- GO:
-
Gene ontology
- KEGG:
-
Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes
- MDA:
-
Malondialdehyde
- POD:
-
Peroxidase
- TF:
-
Transcription factor
- TFBS:
-
Transcription factor binding site
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFD1000605-1), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32201519，31922058, 32171742, 32271831), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (6232028, 6212023).
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425_2023_4197_MOESM1_ESM.tif
Suppl. Fig. S1 Overview of Fspa_1. a Phylogenetic tree of Fspa_1. b, c Morphology and spores of the pathogen. file1 (TIF 23942 KB)
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Suppl. Fig. S2 a Venn diagram of continuously changing DEGs. b Heat map of NS (non-significant) genes, FPKM values have been logarithmized. file2 (TIF 3462 KB)
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Suppl. Fig. S3 GO analysis. a GO analysis of up-regulated DEGs. b GO analysis of down-regulated DEGs. c GO analysis of NS genes. file3 (TIF 7755 KB)
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Suppl. Fig. S5 a KEGG analysis of 12h vs 6h. b KEGG analysis of 24h vs 12h. c Total flavonoid content at 0, 6, 12, 24h. Each value represents the mean ± SD of three replicates. *, **, and *** indicate significance at the 0.05, 0.01, and 0.001 probability levels, respectively. file5 (TIF 5975 KB)
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Suppl. Fig. S6 The leaves of EV, PabHLH102-OE, PabHLH15-OE plants under control and treat for 2 days. file6 (TIF 8251 KB)
425_2023_4197_MOESM8_ESM.xlsx
Suppl. Table S2 TFBS (transcription factor binding site) enrichment analysis of key transcription factors. file8 (XLSX 11 KB)
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Chen, T., Cao, H., Wang, M. et al. Integrated transcriptome and physiological analysis revealed core transcription factors that promote flavonoid biosynthesis in apricot in response to pathogenic fungal infection. Planta 258, 64 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04197-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-023-04197-x