Abstract
Guzmania monostachia is an epiphytic tank bromeliad that displays the inducible CAM photosynthesis under stressful conditions and had the highest stomata density in the leaf apex, while the base portion has the highest density of trichomes, which are specialized structures used to acquire water and nutrients from the tank solution. In order to correlate the genetic factors behind these morpho-physiological characteristics along the leaf blade of G. monostachia, a comparative transcriptome analysis was performed to identify the functional enriched pathways and unigenes that could play a role in the apical, middle and basal leaf portions. A total of 653 million reads were used for de novo transcriptome assembly, resulting in 48,051 annotated unigenes. Analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among distinct leaf regions revealed that 806 DEGs were upregulated in the apex compared to the middle portion, while 9685 DEGs were upregulated in the apex and 9784 DEGs were upregulated in the middle portions compared to the base. Our outcomes correlated some DEGs and identified unigenes with their physiological functions, mainly suggesting that the leaf apex was related to the regulation of stomatal movement, production of chlorophyll, cellular response to stress, and H2O2 catabolic process. In contrast, the middle portion showed DEGs associated with the transport of amino acids. Furthermore, DEGs from the leaf base were mainly correlated with responses to nutrients and nitrogen compounds, regulation of potassium ion import, response to water deprivation, and trichome branching, indicating that, at least in part, this leaf portion can replace some of the root functions of terrestrial plants. Therefore, possibly candidate unigenes and enriched pathways presented here could be prospected in future experimental work, opening new possibilities to bioengineer non-inducible CAM plants and/or improve the fertilization use efficiency by increasing leaf nutrient acquisition of crop plants.
Highlights
Guzmania monostachia is an epiphytic tank-forming bromeliad that has been used as a modelplant for photosynthetic studies as it up-regulates the Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) depending on the environmental conditions [1,2,3]
The RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) of Guzmania monostachia was constructed based on RNA extracted from 54 samples of leaves divided into three distinct portions
The sequencing data of Guzmania monostachia represents the first transcriptome of a Tillandsioideae bromeliad whose subfamily traits are described as the most derived within the family
Summary
Guzmania monostachia is an epiphytic tank-forming bromeliad that has been used as a modelplant for photosynthetic studies as it up-regulates the Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) depending on the environmental conditions [1,2,3]. Under water shortage or high light intensity, the CAM syndrome can be induced in the leaves. G. monostachia has a reduced root system while the leaves have great importance for plant metabolism. Besides the photosynthesis per se, the leaves replace at least in part the root function related to water and nutrient uptake, since the leaf base portion has the highest density of trichomes, which are specialized structures used for tank solution absorption, while the apical portion has the largest number of stomata [4,5]. There are clear morphological differences along the leaf blade
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