Sucrose metabolism analysis in a high sucrose sugarcane mutant clone at a mature stage in contrast to low sucrose parental clone through the transcriptomic approach

Abstract

Background The significance of sugarcane as a major crop is due to the production of sucrose and a significant source of ethanol. Sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS), Sucrose synthase (SuSy), and cell wall invertase (CWIN) genes regulate sucrose metabolism and accumulation in high sucrose sugarcane; such genes are significant for manipulating sucrose content. The current study explored the genes associated with sucrose metabolism and accumulation in a high sucrose sugarcane mutant clone GXB9 compared to its low sucrose parental clone B9. Results A total of 100, 262 differentially expressed genes were obtained, and 69, 637 (69.46%) got annotation in public databases COG, GO, KEGG, KOG, Pfam, eggNOG, NR, and Swiss-Prot. The SPS5 gene was significantly up-regulated in the maturing internodes of GXB9 and downregulated in B9. The SuSy and CWIN genes were up-regulated in the immature internodes; however, no expression was found in the maturing internodes of GXB9. The genes involved in trehalose synthesis were downregulated in GXB9 while up-regulated in B9. The cellulose synthase (CeS) genes were significantly up-regulated in the immature internodes than in maturing internodes of GXB9. Conclusions The key finding of this research suggests that the SPS5 gene has a predominant role in enhancing the sucrose accumulation ability of GXB9. No expression of SuSy and CWIN genes in maturing internodes and downregulation of trehalose genes in GXB9 may also have contributed to the higher sucrose accumulation in the stalk of high sucrose mutant. The current finding is a source for sugarcane breeding, particularly improving sucrose content. Graphical Abstract