Metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses of rice plant interaction with invasive weed Leptochloa chinensis

Liang Zhang; Ke Chen; Tianrui Li; Shuren Yuan; Chenyang Li; Lianyang Bai; Lifeng Wang

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1271303

Metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses of rice plant interaction with invasive weed Leptochloa chinensis

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Sep 25:14:1271303. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1271303. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Liang Zhang^{1

2

3

4}, Ke Chen^{1

2}, Tianrui Li^{1

2}, Shuren Yuan^{1

2}, Chenyang Li³, Lianyang Bai^{1

2

4}, Lifeng Wang^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Longping Branch, College of Biology, Hunan University, Changsha, China.
² Key Laboratory of Indica Rice Genetics and Breeding in the Middle and Lower Reaches of Yangtze River Valley, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Hunan Rice Research Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, China.
³ College of Biology, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, and Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics and Developmental Regulation, Hunan University, Changsha, China.
⁴ Huangpu Research Institute of Longping Agricultural Science and Technology, Guangzhou, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Leptochloa chinensis is an annual weed in paddy fields, which can engage in competition with rice, leading to a severe yield reduction. However, theunderlying mechanism governing this interaction remain unknown.

Methods: In this study, we investigated the mutual inhibition between rice and the weed undermono-culture and co-culture conditions. We found that the root exudates of both species played essential roles in mediating the mutual inhibition. Further metabolomic analysis identified a significant number of differential metabolites. These metabolites were predominantly enriched in the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways in weed and rice. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the differentially expressed genes responding to the interaction were also enriched in these pathways.

Results: Phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways are associated with allelopathy, indicating their pivotal role in the response of rice-weed mutual inhibition.

Discussion: Our findings shed light on the conserved molecular responses of rice and L. chinensis during theirinteraction, provide evidence to dissect the mechanisms underlying the allelopathic interaction and offer potential strategies for weed management in rice paddies.

Keywords: Leptochloa chinensis; allelopathy; metabolome; rice; transcriptome.

Grants and funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2021YFD1700101), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32272564 and No. 32001923), the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (2021RC3044, 2022RC1017, 2022WK2007, 2020WK2014), the Training Program for Excellent Young Innovators of Changsha (kq2106079), and the China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (CARS-16-E19).