Transcriptome and metabolome changes in Chinese cedar during cold acclimation reveal the roles of flavonoids in needle discoloration and cold resistance.

Tree Physiol

Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics & Biotechnology of Ministry of Education, Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, College of Forestry, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China.

Published: September 2022

AI Article Synopsis

  • Cryptomeria fortunei experiences yellowish-brown needle discoloration during cold winters, impacting its growth and development despite being an evergreen species.
  • A study compared normal wild-type (Wt) and evergreen mutant (GM) needles, finding that Wt needles lost more chlorophyll and had disrupted chloroplast structures, along with higher flavonoid levels.
  • Key genes involved in flavonoid biosynthesis were identified, particularly upregulated flavonol synthase in Wt needles, suggesting that flavonoid metabolism is crucial for cold resistance and needle color variation in C. fortunei.

Article Abstract

Cryptomeria fortunei growth and development are usually affected by low temperatures. Despite the evergreen nature of this species, most needles turn yellowish-brown in cold winters. The underlying discoloration mechanisms that cause this phenomenon in response to cold acclimation remain poorly understood. Here, we measured the pigment content and ultrastructure of normal wild-type (Wt) and evergreen mutant (GM) C. fortunei needles and performed integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses to explore potential discoloration mechanisms. The results showed that the needle chlorophyll content of these two genotypes decreased in winter. Wt needles showed greater decrease in the chlorophyll content and local destruction of chloroplast ultrastructure and contained larger amounts of flavonoids than GM needles, as shown by metabolomics analysis. We subsequently identified key differentially expressed genes in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway and observed significantly upregulated flavonol synthase expression in Wt needles compared with GM needles that significantly increased the anthoxanthin (flavones and flavonols) content, which is likely a key factor underlying the difference in needle color between these two genotypes. Therefore, flavonoid metabolism may play important roles in the cold resistance and needle discoloration of C. fortunei, and our results provide an excellent foundation for the molecular mechanism of C. fortunei in response to cold stress.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpac046DOI Listing

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