Transcriptional profiling reveals mechanisms of sexually dimorphic responses of Populus cathayana to potassium deficiency

Abstract

Potassium (K) deficiency causes a series of physiological and metabolic disorders in plants, and dioecious species exhibit different responses based on sex. Our previous morphological and physiological observations indicated that Populus cathayana males were more tolerant to K deficiency than females. To continue this work, comparative transcriptome analyses were carried out to investigate sexually differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in this study. The results indicate that 10 weeks of K deficiency result in 111 and 181 DEGs in males and females, respectively. These DEGs are mainly involved in photosynthesis, cell wall biosynthesis, secondary metabolism, transport, stress responses, gene expression regulation and protein synthesis and degradation. Comparing between sexes, P. cathayana females showed more changes in response to K deficiency than males with regard to photosynthesis, gene expression regulation and posttranslational modification but fewer changes in secondary metabolism, stress responses and redox homeostasis. These results provide evidence that P. cathayana females are more susceptible to K deficiency than males. Therefore, there are sex-related molecular strategies in response to K deficiency between sexes.

Metabolic and physiological analyses reveal that Populus cathayana males adopt an energy-saving strategy to cope with phosphorus deficiency

“…is an ecologically and economically important dioecious species, commonly cultivated in valley or mountain areas of China, where soil P availability is low. P. cathayana males and females have differences in stress tolerance and resource demands and they show different physiological and morphological responses to nutrient limitation, male poplars being more tolerant than females (Zhang et al 2014, Han et al 2018.…”

Regulation of miR319b-Targeted SlTCP10 during the Tomato Response to Low-Potassium Stress

“…Plants react to the low-K + levels by influencing root growth and structure in different ways, such as suppressing primary roots’ growth and promoting root hair elongation [ 3 ]. In plants, low-K + signal transduction causes a downstream response and ultimately promotes their adaptation to K + deficiency [ 4 ]. K + deficiency can activate K + uptake through the plant root by influencing the K + transporters’ activity [ 5 ].…”

Effect of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and phosphorus on drought-induced oxidative stress and 14-3-3 proteins gene expression of Populus cathayana

“…Populus cathayana Rehd. is a rapidly growing dioecious plant, and males are better than females under environmental stress such as drought and nutrient deficiency ( Chen et al, 2014 ; Han et al, 2018 ). Previous studies have demonstrated that males of P. cathayana adopt energy-saving strategies to cope with P deficiency by metabolic and physiological analysis, resulting in stronger tolerance to P deficiency than females ( Zhang et al, 2019 ).…”