Transcriptome analysis reveals metabolic alteration due to consecutive monoculture and abiotic stress stimuli in Rehamannia glutinosa Libosch

Abstract

We deeply investigated the mechanism underlying metabolic regulation in response to consecutive monoculture (replanting disease) and different abiotic stresses that unfolded the response mechanism to consecutive monoculture problem through RNA-seq analysis. The consecutive monoculture problem (CMP) resulted of complex environmental stresses mediated by multiple factors. Previous studies have noted that multiple stress factors in consecutive monoculture soils or plants severely limited the interpretation of the critical molecular mechanism, and made a predict that the specifically responding factor was autotoxic allelochemicals. To identify the specifically responding genes, we compared transcriptome changes in roots of Rehamannia glutinosa Libosch using consecutive monoculture, salt, drought, and ferulic acid as stress factors. Comparing with normal growth, 2502, 2672, 2485, and 1956 genes were differentially expressed in R. glutinosa under consecutive monoculture practice, salt, drought, and ferulic acid stress, respectively. In addition, 510 genes were specifically expressed under consecutive monoculture, which were not present under the other stress conditions. Integrating the biological and enrichment analyses of the differentially expressed genes, the result demonstrated that the plants could alter enzyme genes expression to reconstruct the complicated metabolic pathways, which used to tolerate the CMP and abiotic stresses. Furthermore, most of the affected pathway genes were closely related to secondary metabolic processes, and the influence of consecutive monoculture practice on the transcriptome genes expression profile was very similar to the profile under salt stress and then to the profile under drought stress. The outlined schematic diagram unfolded the putative signal regulation mechanism in response to the CMP. Genes that differentially up- or down-regulated under consecutive monoculture practice may play important roles in the CMP or replanting disease in R. glutinosa.

Molecular Mechanisms of Acclimatization to Phosphorus Starvation and Recovery Underlying Full-Length Transcriptome Profiling in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.)

“…This shows that GN121 was weakly affected by Pi deficiency. In a recent study, limonene and pinene degradation was reported as a stress defense mechanism process, which was significantly reinforced under abiotic stress (Tian et al, 2017 ). Only one gene was enriched in this pathway in the present study, and up-regulated under the condition of Pi starvation.…”

Changes in Cucumber Rhizosphere <i>Bacillus</i> spp. Abundance and Community Structure During Long-Term Continuous Monocropping

“…When same crop is grown again and again on same piece of land, the autotoxins released through root exudates and from plant debris start accumulate in root zone [23,24]. An increasing number of studies have shown that the accumulation of plant released phenolic compounds due to continuous monocropping and exogenously applied autotoxins can alter the composition of soil microbial communities [25][26][27][28][29] including plant beneficial soil microbial species such as Bacillus spp.…”

Transcriptome Analysis Reveals the Different Response to Toxic Stress in Rootstock Grafted and Non-Grafted Cucumber Seedlings

“…Consecutive monoculture problem (CMP) happens when one plant is cultivated in the same field year after year, which results in growth decline, crop yield reduction, quality degradation, and disease susceptibility. Previous studies have indicated that the causes of the CMP include soil physicochemical properties deterioration, microbial community structure imbalance, and autotoxicity of root exudates [1][2][3]. Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) suffers from a severe consecutive monoculture problem especially under greenhouse cultivation, and the main cause for this CMP in cucumber is the secretion of autotoxins.…”