The Coordination of Gene Expression within Photosynthesis Pathway for Acclimation of C4 Energy Crop Miscanthus lutarioriparius

Abstract

As a promising candidate for the second-generation C4 energy crop, Miscanthus lutarioriparius has well acclimated to the water-limited and high-light Loess Plateau in China by improving photosynthesis rate and water use efficiency (WUE) compared to its native habitat along Yangtze River. Photosynthetic genes were demonstrated as one major category of the candidate genes underlying the physiological superiority. To further study how photosynthetic genes interact to improve the acclimation potential of M. lutarioriparius, population expression patterns within photosynthesis pathway were explored between one mild environment and one harsh environment. We found that 108 transcripts in assembled transcriptome of M. lutarioriparius were highly similar to genes in three Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) photosynthesis pathways of sorghum and maize. Phylogenetic analyses using sorghum, maize, rice, and Arabidopsis genes of dark reaction identified 23 orthologs and 30 paralogs of M. lutarioriparius photosynthetic genes. These genes were also clustered into two kinds of expression pattern. 87% of transcripts in dark reaction were up-regulated and all 14 chloroplast-encoded transcripts in light reaction increased degradation in the harsh environment compared to the mild environment. Moreover, 80.8% of photosynthetic transcripts were coordinated at transcription level under the two environments. Interestingly, LHCI and PSI were significantly correlated with F-ATPase and C4 cycle. Overall, this study indicates the coordinated expression between cyclic electron transport (consisting of LHCI, PSI, and ATPase) and CO2-concentrating mechanism (C4 cycle) could account for photosynthesis plasticity on M. lutarioriparius acclimation potential.

De novo transcriptome sequencing of genome analysis provides insights into Solidago canadensis invasive capability via photosynthesis

“…In addition, LHCI and PSI are significantly correlated with F-ATPase and C4 cycle (Xing et al 2016). Therefore, the complex consisting of LHCI, PSI, and F-ATPase plays an important role in the coordinated expression between cyclic electron transport and the CO 2 -concentrating mechanism (Xing et al 2016). In this study, several genes were found to be up-regulated in cyclic electron transport, such as PsaG, PetE, PetF, Lhca1, Lhca2, and Lhca4 (Figure 2), and the results of photosynthetic data (Figure 1(D,E)) and qPCR ( Figure 4) are in good agreement with the transcription.…”

“…The key genes, PsaG and PsaK, may be integrated after the LHCI is assembled into the PSI core complex (Ozawa et al 2010). In addition, LHCI and PSI are significantly correlated with F-ATPase and C4 cycle (Xing et al 2016). Therefore, the complex consisting of LHCI, PSI, and F-ATPase plays an important role in the coordinated expression between cyclic electron transport and the CO 2 -concentrating mechanism (Xing et al 2016).…”

“…Molecular tools and transcriptome sequences are costeffective methods to support research on environmental responses in plants (Müller et al 2012), and the RNA-seq method provides a direct and efficient way to compare the complex mechanism of photosynthesis (Xing et al 2016). Thomas et al (2016) demonstrated the generation and assembly of RNA sequences to explain the responses to environmental change in green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), and emerald ash borer attack, which is a primary threaten to green ash trees.…”

De novo Transcriptome Analysis of Miscanthus lutarioriparius Identifies Candidate Genes in Rhizome Development

“…Previously, transcriptome profiling has only been reported for genes related to water-use efficiency and high photosynthesis efficiency for M. lutarioriparius (Fan et al, 2015; Xing et al, 2016). Rhizomnousness is one of the most distinctive characteristics of M. lutarioriparius compared to the other Miscanthus species.…”

Population transcriptomic characterization of the genetic and expression variation of a candidate progenitor of Miscanthus energy crops

“…When M. lutarioriparius was transplanted from its native habitat to the Loess Plateau (Figure ), the low survival rate in the new environment drastically decreased genetic diversity of the transplanted population, while in the surviving plants the expression of stress‐tolerance genes showed significantly increased variation (Fan et al., ; Song et al., ; Xing et al. ; Xu et al., ). However, while these studies characterized the genetic responses of M. lutarioriparius under extremely novel conditions, we still lack information on the performance of the species in its natural populations.…”