Extreme environmental adaptation mechanisms of Antarctic bryophytes are mainly the activation of antioxidants, secondary metabolites and photosynthetic pathways

Abstract

The environment in Antarctica is characterized by low temperature, intense UVB and few vegetation types. The Pohlia nutans M211 are bryophytes, which are the primary plants in Antarctica and can thrive well in the Antarctic harsh environment. The transcriptional profiling of Pohlia nutans M211 under low temperature and high UVB conditions was analyzed to explore their polar adaptation mechanism in the extreme Antarctic environment by third-generation sequencing and second-generation sequencing. In comparison to earlier second-generation sequencing techniques, a total of 43,101 non-redundant transcripts and 10,532 lncRNA transcripts were obtained, which were longer and more accurate. The analysis results of GO, KEGG, AS (alternative splicing), and WGCNA (weighted gene co-expression network analysis) of DEGs (differentially expressed genes), combined with the biochemical kits revealed that antioxidant, secondary metabolites pathways and photosynthesis were the key adaptive pathways for Pohlia nutans M211 to the Antarctic extreme environment. Furthermore, the low temperature and strong UVB are closely linked for the first time by the gene HY5 (hlongated hypocotyl 5) to form a protein interaction network through the PPI (protein–protein interaction networks) analysis method. The UVR8 module, photosynthetic module, secondary metabolites synthesis module, and temperature response module were the key components of the PPI network. In conclusion, this study will help to further explore the polar adaptation mechanism of Antarctic plants represented by bryophytes and to enrich the polar gene resources.

Genome-Wide Identification and Co-Expression Networks of WOX Gene Family in Nelumbo nucifera

“…Gene co-expression networks were performed to filter gene sets involved in the same biological pathways or gene pairs interacting with each other [ 57 , 58 ]. Due to the minimum sample size and correlation of gene modules and tissue, weight gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was widely used for identifying the co-expressed gene pairs in different plant tissues or experimental treatment samples [ 59 , 60 , 61 ]. Previous transcriptomic research on lotus has constructed a gene-level network involved in only six tissues and a transcript-level co-expression network including eleven tissues using WGCNA [ 32 , 62 ].…”

Predicting potential and quality distribution of Anisodus tanguticus (Maxim.) Pascher under different climatic conditions in the Qinghai–Tibet plateau

“…Plant secondary metabolites are mean plant qualities that play an important role in plant growth and development, pathogen and animal defense, and biotic and abiotic stress ( Wang et al., 2023 ). The environment can be directly or indirectly involved in the above processes by regulating plant secondary metabolites ( Cheng et al., 2018 ; Zhang et al., 2023 ). In the predicted tropine alkaloid content equation, the monthly mean of the temperature difference between day and night (Bio 2) negatively effects on anisodamine content.…”