Combined analysis of metagenome and transcriptome revealed the adaptive mechanism of different golden Camellia species in karst regions

Jianxiu Liu; Haidu Jiang; Yang Huang; Lisha Zhong; Qin Xu; Quanguang Yang; Shengyuan Liu; Xiao Wei; Yu Liang; Shengfeng Chai

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1180472

Combined analysis of metagenome and transcriptome revealed the adaptive mechanism of different golden Camellia species in karst regions

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Nov 20:14:1180472. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1180472. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Jianxiu Liu^#^{1

2}, Haidu Jiang^#¹, Yang Huang^#³, Lisha Zhong², Qin Xu², Quanguang Yang⁴, Shengyuan Liu⁵, Xiao Wei¹, Yu Liang², Shengfeng Chai¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Phytochemicals and Sustainable Utilization, Guangxi Institute of Botany, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guilin, China.
² Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Landscape Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization in Lijiang River Basin, College of Life Science, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China.
³ School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, China.
⁴ Golden Camellia National Nature Reserve Management Center, Fangchenggang, China.
⁵ Administration of Nonggang National Nature Reserve of Guangxi, Chongzuo, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Camellia sect. Chrysantha is an important rare and protected plant species. Some golden Camellia species grow in karst soil while others grow in acidic soil. In order to study the adaptation mechanism of golden Camellia to the karst environment, four species of golden Camellia growing in the karst soil (Camellia pubipetala, Camellia perpetua, Camellia grandis, and Camellia limonia) and four species growing in the acidic soil (Camellia nitidissima, Camellia euphlebia, Camellia tunghinensis, and Camellia parvipetala) were selected for this study. Combining the metagenome and transcriptome, the structure and function of the rhizosphere microbial communities and the gene expression in roots of golden Camellia were analyzed. The results showed that the rhizosphere microbial communities in different golden Camellia were significantly different in abundance of Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, Candidatus_Rokubacteria, Nitrospirae, Planctomycetes, and Candidatus_Tectomicrobia. The proportion of Candidatus_Rokubacteria was significantly higher in the rhizosphere soil of four species of golden Camellia grown in karst areas, compared to C. nitidissima, C. euphlebia, and C. tunghinensis. The linear discriminant analysis Effect Size showed that C. parvipetala was similar to karst species in the enrichment of ABC transporters and quorum sensing. During the transcriptome analysis, numerous upregulated genes in four karst species, including CYP81E, CHS, F3H, C12RT1, NAS, and CAD, were found to be enriched in the secondary metabolite synthesis pathway in the KEGG library, when compared to C. tunghinensis. This study provides information for plant adaptation mechanisms on the rhizosphere soil microbial composition and gene expression in secondary metabolic pathways to karst habitats and its distribution in karst areas.

Keywords: adaptation mechanism; golden Camellia; karst regions; metagenome; transcriptome.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32060248 and 31660092), the Key Research and Development Program of Guangxi (GuikeAB21196018), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangxi (Grants 2020GXNSFBA297157 and 2020GXNSFBA297045), the Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education (YCSW2023127), the Innovation Training Program for University Students (202210602020), the Sustainable Development Innovation Project and English Course Construction Project for Postgraduates of Guangxi Normal University (2020CX003 and 2021XJQYW01), and the Key Research and Development Project of Guangxi (NO: GuiKeAB22080044).