Combined transcriptomic and physiological metabolomic analyses elucidate key biological pathways in the response of two sorghum genotypes to salinity stress.

Zhang F, Lu F, Wang Y, Zhang Z, Wang J, Zhang K, Wu H, Zou J, Duan Y, Ke F, Zhu K

Published: 1 November 2022 in Frontiers in plant science
Keywords: metabolomic, resistance, salicylic acid, salt stress, sorghum, transcriptomic
Pubmed ID: 36311110
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.880373

Sorghum is an important food crop with high salt tolerance. Therefore, studying the salt tolerance mechanism of sorghum has great significance for understanding the salt tolerance mechanism of C4 plants. In this study, two sorghum species, LRNK1 (salt-tolerant (ST)) and LR2381 (salt-sensitive (SS)), were treated with 180 mM NaCl salt solution, and their physiological indicators were measured. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were performed by Illumina sequencing and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) technology, respectively. The results demonstrated that the plant height, leaf area, and chlorophyll contents in LRNK1 were significantly higher than in LR2381. Functional analysis of differently expressed genes (DEGs) demonstrated that plant hormone signal transduction (GO:0015473), carbohydrate catabolic processes (GO:0016052), and photosynthesis (GO:0015979) were the main pathways to respond to salt stress in sorghum. The genes of the two varieties showed different expression patterns under salt stress conditions. The metabolomic data revealed different profiles of salicylic acid and betaine between LRNK1 and LR2381, which mediated the salt tolerance of sorghum. In conclusion, LRNK1 sorghum responds to salt stress via a variety of biological processes, including energy reserve, the accumulation of salicylic acid and betaine, and improving the activity of salt stress-related pathways. These discoveries provide new insights into the salt tolerance mechanism of sorghum and will contribute to sorghum breeding.

Agricultural Public Relations and Industrialization Project in Liaoning Province, China 10200014
Agricultural Public Relations and Industrialization Project in Liaoning Province, China 2020JH2
Liaoning Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China - General Project of the Dean’s Fund 2021MS0504
Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Foundation Project, China 2019-MS-197
MOF and MARA - China Agriculture Research System CARS-06
National Key R&D Program of China 2019YFD1001700