Transcriptome analysis of mulberry (Morus alba L.) leaves to identify differentially expressed genes associated with post-harvest shelf-life elongation

Abstract

Present study deals with molecular expression patterns responsible for post-harvest shelf-life extension of mulberry leaves. Quantitative profiling showed retention of primary metabolite and accumulation of stress markers in NS7 and CO7 respectively. The leaf mRNA profiles was sequenced using the Illumina platform to identify DEGs. A total of 3413 DEGs were identified between the treatments. Annotation with Arabidopsis database has identified 1022 DEGs unigenes. STRING generated protein–protein interaction, identified 1013 DEGs nodes with p < 1.0e−16. KEGG classifier has identified genes and their participating biological processes. MCODE and BiNGO detected sub-networking and ontological enrichment, respectively at p ≤ 0.05. Genes associated with chloroplast architecture, photosynthesis, detoxifying ROS and RCS, and innate-immune response were significantly up-regulated, responsible for extending shelf-life in NS7. Loss of storage sucrose, enhanced activity of senescence-related hormones, accumulation of xenobiotics, and development of osmotic stress inside tissue system was the probable reason for tissue deterioration in CO7. qPCR validation of DEGs was in good agreement with RNA sequencing results, indicating the reliability of the sequencing platform. Present outcome provides a molecular insight regarding involvement of genes in self-life extension, which might help the sericulture industry to overcome their pre-existing problems related to landless farmers and larval feeding during monsoon.

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Genes Associated with Flooding Tolerance in Mulberry Plants

“…In mononucleotide repeats, SSRs with the A/T motif were the most abundant, while in dinucleotide SSRs, the AG/CT sequence was predominant. These results were consistent with previous reports on Morus alba and Lychnis kiusiana [ 75 , 76 ]. The relative abundance and density of perfect SSRs in mulberry were 323.09 loci and 5995.33 bp per Mb, respectively, lower than the values reported for Tinospora cordifolia [ 77 ].…”