Transcriptome analysis of the symbiosis-related genes between Funneliformis mosseae and Amorpha fruticosa

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can colonize and form associations with the roots of Amorpha fruticosa L. (desert false indigo). Various genes are induced during the symbiotic process. In this study, de novo transcriptome sequencing using RNA-seq was conducted for the first time for a comprehensive analysis of AMF-A. fruticosa symbionts at the transcript level. We obtained 12G of raw data from illumina sequencing and recovered 115,786 unigenes with an average length of 547 bp, among them 41,848 of significance. A total of 2460 diffexpression genes were identified, including 1579 down-regulated and 881 up-regulated genes. A threshold for false discovery rate of 1 determined significant differences in gene expression. Using these criteria, we screened 285 significant differentially expressed genes, of which 82 were up-regulated and 203 down-regulated. The 82 up-regulated genes were classified according to their functions and assigned into seven categories: stress and defense, metabolism, signaling transduction, protein folding and degradation, energy, protein synthesis, and transcription. The 203 down-regulated genes were screened according to fold change > 2, and 50 highly significant down-regulated genes were obtained related to stress and defense. The results of this study will provide a useful foundation for further investigation on the metabolic characteristics and molecular mechanisms of AMF associations with leguminous woody shrubs.