Effect of temperature on betacyanins synthesis and the transcriptome of Suaeda salsa

Min Li; Peimin He; Zitao Zhao; Jinlin Liu; Hongtao Liu; Shaozu Ma; Yifei Shen; Bin Li

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1203089

Effect of temperature on betacyanins synthesis and the transcriptome of Suaeda salsa

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jun 26:14:1203089. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1203089. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Min Li¹, Peimin He^{1

2

3}, Zitao Zhao¹, Jinlin Liu¹, Hongtao Liu¹, Shaozu Ma¹, Yifei Shen¹, Bin Li¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Marine Ecology and Environment, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China.
² Engineering Research Center for Water Environment Ecology in Shanghai, Shanghai, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Exploration and Utilization of Aquatic Genetic Resources, Ministry of Education, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Suaeda salsa (Linn.) Pall. is an important tourist resource and ecological restoration species in coastal wetlands. Environmental factors such as low temperature, darkness, phytohormone, salt stress and seawater flflooding, and light can induce betalain synthesis in S. salsa, which plays an important role in plant adaptation to abiotic stress processes and in shaping the beautiful "red beach" landscape.

Methods: In this study, Illumina sequencing was used to profifile the transcriptome sequence (RNA-Seq) of S. salsa leaves at different temperatures (5° C, 10°C, 15°C, 20°C, 25°C, and 30°C) and to validate differentially expressed genes (DEGs) indicated by real-time PCR (RT-qPCR).

Results: The betacyanin content was highest in S. salsa leaves at 15°C. Transcription group data showed that compared to the control group (15°C), the "betacyanin biosynthesis pathway" was signifificantly enriched in the fifive different temperature groups. KEGG analysis showed that the DEGs were mainly involved in pathways of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, carbon fifixation in photosynthetic organisms, flflavonoid biosynthesis, and betacyanin biosynthesis. Among the key enzymes involved in biosynthesis of betacyanin, genes for tyrosinase, CYP76AD1 and 4,5-DOPA dioxygenase were signifificantly upregulated and most abundantly expressed at 15°C. It is possible that the gene for betacyanin synthesis from S. salsa is primarily regulated by the MYB1R1 and MYB1 transcription factor. Four DEGs were randomly selected for quantitative PCR analysis, and DEG expression was generally consistent with the RNA-Seq data, verifying the validity of the transcriptome sequencing data.

Discussion: Relative to other temperatures, 15°C was optimum for S. salsa betacyanin synthesis, and this provides a theoretical reference for coastal wetland ecological remediation, reveals mechanisms of S. salsa discoloration, and further mines its potential application for landscape vegetation.

Keywords: Suaeda salsa; betacyanins; coastal wetlands; temperature; transcriptome.

Grants and funding

The funding was supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2017YFCO506002), Open Fund of the Key Laboratory of Marine Ecological Monitoring and Restoration Technology of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MEMIRT202003), Shanghai Ocean Bureau Project (Shanghai Ocean Science 2022-03).