Metabolome and transcriptome analyses provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the enhancement of medicinal component content in the roots of Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Harms through foliar application of zinc fertilizer

Tongze Sun; Jialin Sun; Yuli Liu; Yanjun Ren; Yifeng Li; Chang Shi; Alyaa Nasr; Zhonghua Tang; Ann Abozeid

doi:10.3389/fgene.2023.1259674

Metabolome and transcriptome analyses provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying the enhancement of medicinal component content in the roots of Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Harms through foliar application of zinc fertilizer

Front Genet. 2023 Nov 17:14:1259674. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2023.1259674. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Tongze Sun¹, Jialin Sun², Yuli Liu¹, Yanjun Ren¹, Yifeng Li^{1

3}, Chang Shi¹, Alyaa Nasr⁴, Zhonghua Tang¹, Ann Abozeid⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Resource Utilization, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China.
² Biological Science and Technology Department, Heilongjiang Vocational College for Nationalities, Harbin, China.
³ College of Life Science, Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
⁴ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebeen El-Kom, Egypt.

Abstract

Acanthopanax senticosus (Rupr. et Maxim.) Harms is a perennial shrub of the Acanthopanax genus in the Araliaceae family and has a high medicinal value. The application of zinc fertilizer can improve the yield and quality of medicinal materials. However, there are limited reports on approaches to increase the content of medicinal components in A. senticosus, hindering the improvement of its medicinal quality. In this study, A. senticosus was treated with 0.1% (LZn) and 0.4% (HZn) zinc sprayed on the leaf surface. The effects of zinc treatment on the medicinal components in the roots of A. senticosus were analyzed by comprehensive metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses. A total of 316 metabolites were detected, with a prevailing occurrence of terpenoids and phenylpropanoids. We identified metabolites related to the medicinal components that were upregulated after Zn treatment, including 43 terpenoids, 19 phenylpropanoids, eight phenols, and three flavonoids. Combining differential gene expression and K-means analysis, we found 95, 65, and 25 upregulated genes related to phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, terpenoid biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis, respectively. Under different concentrations of Zn treatment, the upregulated metabolite biosynthesis-related genes and differentially expressed transcription factors varied. Pearson correlation network analysis revealed significant correlations among terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, flavonoids biosynthetic genes, and several transcription factors (ERFs, WRKYs, bHLHs, NACs, and MYBs). This study lays the foundation for understanding the metabolic processes in response to varying levels of zinc foliar spray and provides a theoretical basis for enhancing the efficiency of zinc fertilizer utilization in A. senticosus.

Keywords: Acanthopanax senticosus; foliar fertilization; metabolome; transcriptome; zinc (Zn).

Grants and funding

The authors declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research received funding from Research and Demonstration on Complex Management and Deep Processing Technology of Special Fruit and Medicine Forest in Heilongjiang Province (grant no. JD22A008).