Journal Article

Integrated multi-omics reveals flavonoid-dominated defense strategies in Coptis chinensis under Fusarium root rot infection

You, Jinwen, Guo, Jie, Duan, Yuqing, Yu, Kaidi, Yang, Yuying

2025

Overview

Root rot disease poses a devastating threat to Coptis chinensis Franch , a medicinal plant prized for its bioactive alkaloids. To dissect its defense mechanisms, we conducted integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses on resistant (R), early-stage infected (S-ES), and late-stage infected (S-LS) plants Our findings reveal a disease severity-dependent escalation in flavonoid metabolism. Key metabolites, such as kaempferol and quercetin derivatives, were significantly increased compared to R, paralleled by progressive upregulation of biosynthetic genes ( PAL , CHS , CHI , FLS ). Strikingly, salicylic acid (SA)-associated metabolites and pathway genes ( NPR1 , NPR3 / NPR4 ) showed no differential expression across groups, contrasting with typical SA-mediated defenses in other species. This study uncovers flavonoid biosynthesis as the primary defense strategy in C. chinensis during root rot progression, while SA signaling may not be the main defense mechanism. These results provide actionable targets for enhancing disease resistance in medicinal plants through metabolic engineering.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Acids / Agriculture / Bioflavonoids / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biosynthesis / Botanical research / Chemical properties / Coptis / Coptis - genetics / Coptis - immunology / Coptis - metabolism / Coptis - microbiology / Coptis chinensis / Defense mechanisms / Disease / Disease resistance / Disease Resistance - genetics / Diseases and pests / Flavones / Flavonoid metabolism / Flavonoids / Flavonoids - metabolism / Flowers & plants / Fusarium / Fusarium - physiology / Gene expression / gene expression regulation / Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Genes / Herbal medicine / Infections / Kaempferol / Leaves / Life Sciences / Lignin / Medicinal plants / Metabolic engineering / Metabolism / Metabolites / Metabolome / Metabolomics / Multiomics / Pathogens / Physiological aspects / Plant defenses / Plant Diseases - immunology / Plant Diseases - microbiology / Plant Roots - immunology / Plant Roots - metabolism / Plant Roots - microbiology / Plant Sciences / Quercetin / Root rot / Root rots / Salicylic acid / Salicylic Acid - metabolism / Secondary metabolism / species / Transcriptome / Transcriptomics / Tree Biology