Gene and Metabolite Integration Analysis through Transcriptome and Metabolome Brings New Insight into Heat Stress Tolerance in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.).

Bailin Liu,Yu Zhang,Lingshuang Kong,Yuncheng Liao

doi:10.3390/plants10010103

Bailin Liu, Yu Zhang + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10010103

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Abstract

Potatoes are particularly vulnerable to elevated temperatures, with short heat stress (6 h) inducing stomatal opening and reducing membrane stability and prolonged heat stress (3-day) decreasing the photosynthetic capacity of potato leaves. The integration of transcriptomics and metabolomics methods demonstrated that 448 heat upregulated and 918 heat downregulated genes and 325 and 219 compounds in the positive and negative ionization modes, respectively, were up- or downregulated in leaves in response to short and prolonged heat stress. Differentially expressed genes enriched in photosynthesis, cell wall degradation, heat response, RNA processing, and protein degradation were highly induced during heat exposure, and differentially expressed metabolites involved in amino acid biosynthesis and secondary metabolism were mostly induced during heat exposure, suggesting a possible role of these genes and metabolites in the heat tolerance of the potato. Metabolite and transcript abundances for the upregulation of flavone and flavonol biosynthesis under prolonged heat stress were closely correlated. Heat-induced gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana shoots and potato leaves overlapped, and heat stress-responsive genes overlapped with drought stress-related genes in potato. The transient expression of four heat-induced genes in Nicotiana benthamiana exhibited increased heat tolerance. This study provides a new transcriptome and metabolic profile of the potato’s response to heat.

Highlights

Global warming has significantly affected the growth and yield of crops and represents a major threat to agricultural food production and food security
Plant cuticles outside of the epidermis of leaves have a protective effect against abiotic stress, and a large number of waxy crystals in the epidermis of potato leaves are formed after 3 days of heat treatment
We found that most stomata are opened after 6 h of heat treatment, this was not obvious for control and 3-day heat-treated leaves, indicating that potato leaves are responsive to short heat stress by regulating stomatal activity (Figure 1)

Summary

Introduction

Global warming has significantly affected the growth and yield of crops and represents a major threat to agricultural food production and food security. The extreme annual daily maximum temperature is predicted to increase by approximately 1 to 3 ◦C by the mid-twenty-first century [1]. Temperatures above the normal optimum are perceived by all living organisms as heat stress (HS), which has an impact on the development of different crop species. Heat stress disrupts cellular homeostasis and leads to severe changes in the structure, metabolic function, and physiological processes of plants [2]. Heat stress is often accompanied by drought stress or other stresses that can cause extensive agricultural losses [3]. It is urgent to understand the molecular thermotolerance mechanisms to breed and select heat-tolerant plant lines

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