Comparative transcriptome and metabolome analyses identified the mode of sucrose degradation as a metabolic marker for early vegetative propagation in bulbs of Lycoris

Zi Ming Ren, Dong Zhang, Chen Jiao, Dan Qing Li, Yun Wu, Xiu Yun Wang, Cong Gao, Ye Fan Lin, Yong Ling Ruan*, Yi Ping Xia*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    19 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Vegetative propagation (VP) is an important practice for production in many horticultural plants. Sugar supply constitutes the basis of VP in bulb flowers, but the underlying molecular basis remains elusive. By performing a combined sequencing technologies coupled with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry approach for metabolic analyses, we compared two Lycoris species with contrasting regeneration rates: high-regeneration Lycoris sprengeri and low-regeneration Lycoris aurea. A comprehensive multi-omics analyses identified both expected processes involving carbohydrate metabolism and transcription factor networks, as well as the metabolic characteristics for each developmental stage. A higher abundance of the differentially expressed genes including those encoding ethylene responsive factors was detected at bulblet initiation stage compared to the late stage of bulblet development. High hexose-to-sucrose ratio correlated to bulblet formation across all the species examined, indicating its role in the VP process in Lycoris bulb. Importantly, a clear difference between cell wall invertase (CWIN)-catalyzed sucrose unloading in high-regeneration species and the sucrose synthase-catalyzed pathway in low-regeneration species was observed at the bulblet initiation stage, which was supported by findings from carboxyfluorescein tracing and quantitative real-time PCR analyses. Collectively, the findings indicate a sugar-mediated model of the regulation of VP in which high CWIN expression or activity may promote bulblet initiation via enhancing apoplasmic unloading of sucrose or sugar signals, whereas the subsequent high ratio of hexose-to-sucrose likely supports cell division characterized in the next phase of bulblet formation.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)115-134
    Number of pages20
    JournalPlant Journal
    Volume112
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2022

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