Abstract
The turfgrass species Carex rigescens has broad development and utilization prospects in landscaping construction. However, seed dormancy and a low germination rate have inhibited its application. Furthermore, the molecular mechanisms of seed germination in C. rigescens have not been thoroughly studied. Therefore, in the present study, PacBio full-length transcriptome sequencing combined with Illumina sequencing was employed to elucidate the germination mechanism of C. rigescens seeds under variable temperatures. In general, 156,750 full-length non-chimeric sequences, including those for 62,086 high-quality transcripts, were obtained using single-molecule long read sequencing. In total, 40,810 high-quality non-redundant, 1,675 alternative splicing, 28,393 putative coding sequences, and 1,052 long non-coding RNAs were generated. Based on the newly constructed full-length reference transcriptome, 23,147 differentially expressed genes were identified. We screened four hub genes participating in seed germination using weighted gene co-expression network analysis. Combining these results with the physiological observations, the important roles of sucrose and starch metabolic pathways in germination are further discussed. In conclusion, we report the first full-length transcriptome of C. rigescens, and investigated the physiological and transcriptional mechanisms of seed germination under variable temperatures. Our results provide valuable information for future transcriptional analyses and gene function studies of C. rigescens.
Highlights
The perennial Carex rigescens is an ideal turfgrass found in open forests and used for lawns in urban landscaping in northern China (Ma and Mao, 1990; Li et al, 2001; Xue et al, 2005)
We found that seed germination of C. rigescens was significantly improved under variable temperature
Physiological observations revealed that improved seed germination may be related to reduced nutrient content and increased peroxidase enzyme activity
Summary
The perennial Carex rigescens is an ideal turfgrass found in open forests and used for lawns in urban landscaping in northern China (Ma and Mao, 1990; Li et al, 2001; Xue et al, 2005). This species is highly tolerant to cold, shade, drought, heat, and other abiotic stresses (Zhang et al, 2021) and can adapt to a variety of soil conditions (Zhang et al, 2019). Studies on C. rigescens have mainly focused on understanding its morphology, physiology, and proteomics under salt stress (Zhang et al, 2020; Zhang et al, 2021) and pharmaceutical applications (Gao et al, 2009) and common methods of breaking seed dormancy aiming to improve its seed germination rate (Liang et al, 2011; Sun et al, 2011). It is vital to clarify the physiological and molecular mechanisms of C. rigescens seed germination
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