Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses uncover the drought adaption landscape of Phoebe zhennan

Na Xie; Bo Li; Jing Yu; Ruxia Shi; Qin Zeng; Yunli Jiang; Dan Zhao

doi:10.1186/s12870-022-03474-3

Transcriptomic and proteomic analyses uncover the drought adaption landscape of Phoebe zhennan

BMC Plant Biol. 2022 Mar 3;22(1):95. doi: 10.1186/s12870-022-03474-3.

Authors

Na Xie^{1

2}, Bo Li^{1

2}, Jing Yu³, Ruxia Shi^{1

2}, Qin Zeng^{1

2}, Yunli Jiang⁴, Dan Zhao^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Agro-Bioengineering and College of Life Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou, China.
² Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guizhou Plant Conservation Technology Center, Guiyang, 550006, Guizhou, China.
³ Tobacco Molecular Genetics Key Laboratory of China Tobacco, Guizhou Academy of Tobacco Science, Guiyang, 550081, China.
⁴ Guizhou Academy of Forestry, Guiyang, 550005, Guizhou, China. 78185087@qq.com.
⁵ Institute of Agro-Bioengineering and College of Life Sciences, The Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Germplasm Innovation in Mountainous Region (Ministry of Education), Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, Guizhou, China. danzhao_2827755@126.com.
⁶ Guizhou Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guizhou Plant Conservation Technology Center, Guiyang, 550006, Guizhou, China. danzhao_2827755@126.com.

Abstract

Background: Phoebe zhennan S.Lee (nanmu) is listed as a threatened tree species in China, whose growth and development, especially during the seedling stage, can be severely limited by drought. Previous studies on nanmu responses to drought stress involved physiological and biochemical analyses, while the molecular mechanisms remained unclear. Therefore, it is of great significance to carry out molecular biology research on the drought resistance of nanmu and reveal the genetic background and molecular regulation mechanism of nanmu drought resistance.

Results: Drought stress enhanced the soluble sugar (SS), free proline(PRO), superoxide anion (O2·-), and hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents as well as the peroxidase (POD) and monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR) activities of nanmu. However, glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity was sensitive to drought stress. Further transcriptomic and proteomic analyses revealed the abundant members of the differentially expressed genes(DEGs) and differentially expressed proteins(DEPs) that were related to phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis, hormone biosynthesis and signal transduction, chlorophyll metabolism, photosynthesis, and oxidation-reduction reaction, which suggested their involvement in the drought response of nanmu. These enhanced the osmotic regulation, detoxification, and enzyme-induced and non-enzyme-induced antioxidant ability of nanmu. Moreover, 52% (447/867) of proteins that were up-regulated and 34% (307/892) down-regulated ones were attributed to the increase and decrease of transcription abundance. Transcript up (T^U) and protein up (P^U) groups had 447 overlaps, while transcript down (T^D) and protein down (P^D) groups had 307 overlaps, accounting for 54% of up and 35% of down-regulated proteins. The lack of overlap between DEGs and DEPs also suggested that post-transcriptional regulation has a critical role in nanmu response to drought.

Conclusions: Our research results provide significant insights into the regulatory mechanisms of drought stress in nanmu.

Keywords: Antioxidant enzyme; Drought; Hormone; Phoebe zhennan; Proteomic; Transcriptomic.

MeSH terms

Acclimatization* / genetics
Droughts*
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
Lauraceae / genetics
Lauraceae / physiology*
Plant Growth Regulators / metabolism
Plant Proteins / genetics
Plant Proteins / metabolism
Proteomics
RNA, Plant / metabolism

Substances

Plant Growth Regulators
Plant Proteins
RNA, Plant