Metabolomics, phytohormone and transcriptomics strategies to reveal the mechanism of barley heading date regulation to responds different photoperiod

• Published in: BMC genomics 2024-09, Vol.25 (1), p.879-14, Article 879
• Main Authors: Ga, Zhuo, Gao, Liyun, Quzong, Xiruo, Mu, Wang, Zhuoma, Pubu, Taba, Xiongnu, Jiao, Guocheng, Dondup, Dawa, Namgyal, Lhundrup, Sang, Zha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aldolase; Auxins; Barley; Botanical research; Carboxylic acids; Cereal crops; Circadian Rhythm - genetics; Circadian rhythms; Connectivity; Crop production; Daylight; Environmental aspects; Ethylene; Flavin; Flowering; Flowers - genetics; Flowers - growth & development; Flowers - metabolism; Fructose-bisphosphate aldolase; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene regulation; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genomes; Growth conditions; Highland barley; Hordeum - genetics; Hordeum - growth & development; Hordeum - metabolism; Indole-3-carboxylic acid; Jasmonic acid; Malic enzyme; Metabolites; Metabolomics; Metabolomics - methods; Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase; Photoperiod; Photoperiods; Photosynthesis; Physiological aspects; Phytohormones; Plant genetics; Plant Growth Regulators - metabolism; Plant hormones; Plant metabolites; Plants (botany); Plants, Flowering of; Pyruvate phosphate dikinase; Pyruvic acid; Regulatory mechanisms (biology); Salicylic acid; Sea level; Signal transduction; Software; Starch; Sucrose; Sunshine; Transcriptome; Transcriptomes; Transcriptomics; Triose-phosphate isomerase; Vernalization; Zeatin
• ISSN: 1471-2164; 1471-2164
• DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10788-z

The correlation between heading date and flowering time significantly regulates grain filling and seed formation in barley and other crops, ultimately determining crop productivity. In this study, the transcriptome, hormone content detection, and metabolome analysis were performed systematically to analyze the regulatory mechanism of heading time in highland barley under different light conditions. The heading date of D18 (winter highland barley variety, Dongqing18) was later than that of K13 (vernal highland barley variety) under normal growth conditions or long-day (LD) treatment, while this situation will reverse with short-day (SD) treatment. The circadian rhythm plant, plant hormone signaling transduction, starch and sucrose metabolism, and photosynthesis-related pathways are significantly enriched in barley under SD and LD to influence heading time. In the plant circadian rhythm pathway, the key genes GI (Gigantea), PRR (Pesudoresponseregulator), FKF1 (Flavin-binding kelch pepeat F-Box 1), and FT (Flowering locus T) are identified as highly expressed in D18SD3 and K13SD2, while they are significantly down-regulated in K13SD3. These genes play an important role in regulating the heading date of D18 earlier than that of K13 under SD conditions. In photosynthesis-related pathways, a-b binding protein and RBS were highly expressed in K13LD3, while NADP-dependent malic enzyme, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, and triosephosphate isomerase were significantly expressed in D18SD3. In the starch and sucrose metabolism pathway, 41 DEGs (differentially expressed genes) and related metabolites were identified as highly expressed and accumulated in D18SD3. The DEGs SAUR (Small auxin-up RNA), ARF (Auxin response factor), TIR1 (Transport inhibitor response 1), EIN3 (Ethylene-insensitive 3), ERS1 (Ethylene receptor gene), and JAZ1 (Jasmonate ZIM-domain) in the plant hormone pathway were significantly up-regulated in D18SD3. Compared with D18LD3, the content of N6-isopentenyladenine, indole-3-carboxylic acid, 1-aminocyclopropanecarboxylic acid, trans-zeatin, indole-3-carboxaldehyde, 1-O-indol-3-ylacetylglucose, and salicylic acid in D18SD3 also increased. The expression levels of vernalization genes (HvVRN1, HvVRN2, and HvVRN3), photoperiod genes (PPD), and PPDK (Pyruvate phosphate dikinase) that affect photosynthetic efficiency in barley are also analyzed, which play important regulatory roles in barley heading date. The WGCNA analysi