Regulation of terpenoid biosynthesis by miRNA in Persicaria minor induced by Fusarium oxysporum

Abstract

Background Persicaria minor (kesum) is an herbaceous plant with a high level of secondary metabolite compounds, particularly terpenoids. These terpenoid compounds have well-established roles in the pharmaceutical and food industries. Although the terpenoids of P. minor have been studied thoroughly, the involvement of microRNA (miRNA) in terpenoid regulation remains poorly understood and needs to be explored. In this study, P. minor plants were inoculated with the pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum for terpenoid induction. Result SPME GC-MS analysis showed the highest terpenoid accumulation on the 6th day post-inoculation (dpi) compared to the other treatment time points (0 dpi, 3 dpi, and 9 dpi). Among the increased terpenoid compounds, α-cedrene, valencene and β-bisabolene were prominent. P. minor inoculated for 6 days was selected for miRNA library construction using next generation sequencing. Differential gene expression analysis showed that 58 miRNAs belonging to 30 families had significantly altered regulation. Among these 58 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 33 miRNAs were upregulated, whereas 25 miRNAs were downregulated. Two putative novel pre-miRNAs were identified and validated through reverse transcriptase PCR. Prediction of target transcripts potentially involved in the mevalonate pathway (MVA) was carried out by psRobot software, resulting in four miRNAs: pmi-miR530, pmi-miR6173, pmi-miR6300 and a novel miRNA, pmi-Nov_13. In addition, two miRNAs, miR396a and miR398f/g, were predicted to have their target transcripts in the non-mevalonate pathway (MEP). In addition, a novel miRNA, pmi-Nov_12, was identified to have a target gene involved in green leaf volatile (GLV) biosynthesis. RT-qPCR analysis showed that pmi-miR6173, pmi-miR6300 and pmi-nov_13 were downregulated, while miR396a and miR398f/g were upregulated. Pmi-miR530 showed upregulation at 9 dpi, and dynamic expression was observed for pmi-nov_12. Pmi-6300 and pmi-miR396a cleavage sites were detected through degradome sequence analysis. Furthermore, the relationship between miRNA metabolites and mRNA metabolites was validated using correlation analysis. Conclusion Our findings suggest that six studied miRNAs post-transcriptionally regulate terpenoid biosynthesis in P. minor . This regulatory behaviour of miRNAs has potential as a genetic tool to regulate terpenoid biosynthesis in P. minor . Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-019-5954-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Identification and Characterization of Verticillium Nonalfalfae-responsive Micrornas in the Roots of Resistant and Susceptible Hop Cultivars

“…The observed differences in the expression pattern could be due to different sampling time, tissue or different functions of the same miRNA family in different species during infection with different pathogens. Similarly as in our study, a mediator of RNA polymerase II was predicted as a target of MIR167 in Persicaria minor [69]. Compared to the susceptible hop cultivar, the resistant cultivar showed a signi cantly lower expression of MIR169.…”

“…Contrary to our results MIR167 showed higher expression in interactions T. aestivum-P. graminis f. sp. tritici [43], P. beijingensis-D. gregaria [19] and Persicaria minor-Fusarium oxysporum [69]. The observed differences in the expression pattern could be due to different sampling time, tissue or different functions of the same miRNA family in different species during infection with different pathogens.…”

Advance in mechanism of plant leaf colour mutation

“…Terpenoids, also known as isoprene compounds, participate in various plant life activities, such as photosynthesis (Chl and carotenoids), growth (phytosterols) and development (GA and ABA), and plant defence responses (Phillips et al, 2008). As one of the pathways involved in the synthesis of terpenoids, the mevalonate pathway (MEP) pathway is catalyzed by multiple enzymes, and its final synthesis products are IPP and DMAPP (Samad et al, 2019). IsPF (MDS), the fifth synthetase in the MEP pathway, catalyses the cyclization reaction of CDP-MEP to generate ME-cPP.…”

Blocking miR530 Improves Rice Resistance, Yield, and Maturity

“…In Withania somnifera , miR530 regulates the biosynthesis of withanolide, a secondary metabolite used as one of the most important medicines in India ( Srivastava et al, 2018 ). In Persicaria minor (kesum), miR530 is highly enhanced by pathogenic fungus Fusarium oxysporum , which acts as an inducer of terpenoid biosynthesis in kesum, suggesting the involvement of miR530 in terpenoid biosynthesis ( Samad et al, 2019 ). In chickpea ( Cicer arietinum ), the amounts of miR530 are increased in response to salt and highly up-regulated by wilt infection caused by the fungus F. oxysporum f.sp.…”