Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed metabolite variations and regulatory networks in Cinnamomum cassia Presl from four growth years

Hongyang Gao; Min Shi; Huiju Zhang; Hongli Shang; Quan Yang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1325961

Integrated metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses revealed metabolite variations and regulatory networks in Cinnamomum cassia Presl from four growth years

Front Plant Sci. 2024 Jan 10:14:1325961. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1325961. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hongyang Gao¹, Min Shi¹, Huiju Zhang¹, Hongli Shang¹, Quan Yang^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ School of Chinese Materia Medica, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou, China.
² Guangdong Provincial Research Center on Good Agricultural Practice & Comprehensive Agricultural Development Engineering Technology of Cantonese Medicinal Materials, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
³ Comprehensive Experimental Station of Guangzhou, Chinese Material Medica, China Agriculture Research System (CARS-21-16), Guangzhou, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Production & Development of Cantonese Medicinal Materials, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Abstract

To understand the mechanism of the dynamic accumulation of active ingredients in Cinnamomum cassia Presl, metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses of 5~8 years old C. cassia were performed. A total of 72 phenylpropanoids, 146 flavonoids, and 130 terpenoids showed marked changes. Most phenylpropanoids and flavonoids showed markedly higher abundances in 6-year-old C. cassia than in others, which was related to the higher expression of genes that synthesize and regulate phenylpropanoids and flavonoid. We identified transcription factors (TFs) and genes involved in phenylpropanoids and flavonoids synthesis and regulation through co-expression network analyses. Furthermore, most of the terpenoids in 5-year-old C. cassia showed markedly higher abundances than in others, which was due to the differentially expressed genes upstream of the terpenoids pathway. The results of our study provide new insights into the synthesis and accumulation of phenylpropanoid, flavonoids and terpenoids in C. cassia at four growth stages.

Keywords: Cinnamomum cassia Presl; flavonoids; phenylpropanoids; terpenoids; transcriptome.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (32300316), Basic Research Project of Luoding Cinnamon Industry Development (2018-082) and Youth Innovative Talents Project by Educational Department of Guangdong Province (2019KQNCX057).