Global Transcriptome and Correlation Analysis Reveal Cultivar-Specific Molecular Signatures Associated with Fruit Development and Fatty Acid Determination in Camellia oleifera Abel

Abstract

Background. Oil-tea Camellia is a very important edible oil plant widely distributed in southern China. Tea oil extracted from the oil-tea Camellia seeds is beneficial to health and is considered as a health edible oil. We attempt to identify genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis in an oil-tea Camellia seed kernel, generated a comprehensive transcriptome analysis of the seed kernel at different developmental stages, and explore optimal picking time of fruit. Material and Methods. A gas chromatography-mass spectrometer was used to detect the content of various fatty acids in samples. Transcriptome analysis was performed to detect gene dynamics and corresponding functions. Results. Multiple phenotypic data were counted in detail, including the oil content, oleic acid content, linoleic acid content, linolenic acid content, fruit weight, fruit height, fruit diameter, single seed weight, seed length, and seed width in different developmental stages, which indicate that a majority of indicators increased with the development of oil-tea Camellia. The transcriptomics was conducted to perform a comprehensive and system-level view on dynamic gene expression networks for different developmental stages. Short Time-series Expression Miner (STEM) analysis of XL106 (the 6 time points) and XL210 (8 time points) was performed to screen related fatty acid (FA) gene set, from which 1041 candidate genes related to FA were selected in XL106 and 202 related genes were screened in XL210 based on GO and KEGG enrichment. Then, candidate genes and trait dataset were combined to conduct correlation analysis, and 10 genes were found to be strongly connected with several key traits. Conclusions. The multiple phenotypic data revealed the dynamic law of changes during the picking stage. Transcriptomic analysis identified a large number of potential key regulatory factors that can control the oil content of dried kernels, oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, fresh seed rate, and kernel-to-seed ratio, thereby providing a new insight into the molecular networks underlying the picking stage of oil-tea Camellia, which provides a theoretical basis for the optimal fruit picking point.

Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis Unravels the Molecular Regulatory Mechanism of Fatty Acid Biosynthesis in Styrax tonkinensis Seeds under Methyl Jasmonate Treatment

“…As a consequence, a study on the expression of bZIP would assist in deepening the understanding of the FA biosynthesis mechanism that is present in S. tonkinensis seeds. Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase ( GPAT ) and NADPH oxidase ( NOX ) were closely associated with triacylglycerol synthesis and oleic acid metabolism, respectively [ 61 ]. We hypothesized that the FA biosynthesis process of S. tonkinensis must be regulated by numerous genes that are responsible for signal transduction, energy metabolism and so on [ 62 ].…”

Biodiversity of Culturable Endophytic Actinobacteria Isolated from High Yield Camellia oleifera and Their Plant Growth Promotion Potential

“…XL27 is with 15-28 fruits per 500 g, the fresh seed rate is 50-56%, and the seed kernel oil rate is 34-37%. The detailed information about these four cultivars is available in Table 1 [2,24]. In the sampling area, the soil is red earth with organic fertilizer applied every December.…”

“…Camellia oleifera Abel., a member of the Theaceae, is an edible oil tree species of China. It is widely distributed in southern China especially in Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangxi province [1,2]. C. oleifera has a long high-yielding period (approximately one hundred years), and the secondary metabolites it produces, such as camellia seed oil, saponins, polyphenols and flavonoids, are widely used in daily life [3].…”

Comparative study on fruit development and oil synthesis in two cultivars of Camellia oleifera

“…Gong et al [36] explored the oil biosynthesis and accumulation of C. oleifera seeds at five different developmental stages. Moreover, Peng et al [37] and Lin et al [38] used RNA-seq technology to study seeds development and lipid synthesis in different C. oleifera cultivars, which provide a new insight into the lipid biosynthesis and fatty acid accumulation mechanism. Wu et al [39] conducted a comparative transcriptome study on highoil and low-oil C. oleifera cultivars and found that the high expression of SAD accelerated oleic acid synthesis and accumulation and the low expression of FAD and FAE1 decreased the consumption of oleic acid for conversion.…”