Journal Article

Physiological and transcriptome analysis of Poa pratensis var. anceps cv. Qinghai in response to cold stress

Ma, Huiling, Ma, Xiang, Dong, Wenke, Zhao, Chunxu, Jiang, Hanyu

2020

Overview

Background Low temperature limits the growth and development and geographical distribution of plants. Poa pratensis is a cool-season turfgrass mainly grown in urban areas. However, low winter temperature or cold events in spring and autumn may cause P.pratensis mortality, affecting the appearance of lawns. P.pratensis var. anceps cv. Qinghai (PQ) is widely distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau above 3000 m. PQ has greater cold tolerance than the commercially cultivated P.pratensis varieties. However, existing studies on the response mechanism of PQ to low temperatures have mainly focused on physiological and biochemical perspectives, while changes in the PQ transcriptome during the response to cold stress have not been reported. Results To investigate the molecular mechanism of the PQ cold response and identify genes to improve the low-temperature tolerance of P.pratensis , we analyzed and compared the transcriptomes of PQ and the cold-sensitive P.pratensis cv. ‘Baron’ (PB) under cold stress using RNA sequencing. We identified 5996 and 3285 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the treatment vs control comparison of PQ and PB, respectively, with 5612 DEGs specific to PQ. Based on the DEGs, important Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, such as “starch and sucrose metabolism”, “protein processing in endoplasmic reticulum”, “phenylalanine metabolism” and “glycolysis/gluconeogenesis” were significantly enriched in PQ, and “starch and sucrose metabolism”, “phenylpropanoid biosynthesis”, “galactose metabolism” and “glutathione metabolism” were significantly enriched in PB. In addition, the “glycolysis” and “citrate cycle (TCA cycle)” pathways were identified as involved in cold tolerance of P.pratensis . Conclusions As we know, this is the first study to explore the transcriptome of P.pratensis var. anceps cv. Qinghai. Our study not noly provides important insights into the molecular mechanisms of P.pratensis var. anceps cv. Qinghai responds to cold stress, but also systematically reveals the changes of key genes and products of glycolysis and TCA cycle in response to cold stress, which is conductive to the breeding of cold-tolerance P.pratensis genotype.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Abscisic acid / Agriculture / Analysis / Antioxidants / Autumn / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biosynthesis / China / Citric acid / Citric Acid - metabolism / Cold / cold season / Cold stress / Cold tolerance / Cold-Shock Response - genetics / Differentially expressed genes / Encyclopedias / Endoplasmic reticulum / Enzymes / Galactose / Gene expression / Gene Expression Profiling / gene expression regulation / Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Gene Ontology / Gene sequencing / Genes / genome / Genome, Plant / Genomes / Genomics / genotype / Genotypes / Geographical distribution / Gluconeogenesis / Glucose metabolism / Glutathione / Glycolysis / growth and development / Health aspects / Hormones / Kinases / Life Sciences / Low temperature / Metabolism / Molecular modelling / Molecular Sequence Annotation / mortality / Phenotype / Phenotypic and physiological changes / Phenylalanine / Physiological aspects / Physiology / Plant Sciences / Plant-abiotic interactions / Poa - genetics / Poa - metabolism / Poa - physiology / Poa pratensis / Poa pratensis var. anceps cv. Qinghai / Protein turnover / Research Article / Ribonucleic acid / RNA / RNA sequencing / RNA-Seq / spring / Starch / Sucrose / Sugar / temperature / Temperature tolerance / Transcriptome / transcriptomics / Tree Biology / Tricarboxylic acid cycle / turf grasses / Urban areas