Integrated Transcriptomic and Un-Targeted Metabolomics Analysis Reveals Mulberry Fruit (Morus atropurpurea) in Response to Sclerotiniose Pathogen Ciboria shiraiana Infection

Abstract

Mulberry sclerotiniose caused by Ciboria shiraiana is a devastating disease of mulberry (Morus alba L.) fruit in Northwest China. At present, no disease-resistant varieties are used in production, as the molecular mechanisms of this disease are not well understood. In this study, to explore new prevention methods and provide direction for molecular breeding, transcriptomic sequencing and un-targeted metabolomics were performed on healthy (CK), early-stage diseased (HB1), and middle-stage diseased (HB2) mulberry fruits. Functional annotation, gene ontology, a Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis, and a Mapman analysis of the differentially expressed genes revealed differential regulation of genes related to plant hormone signal transduction, transcription factors, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. A correspondence between the transcript pattern and metabolite profile was observed in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway. It should be noted that the log2 ratio of eugenol (isoeugenol) in HB1 and HB2 are 85 times and 23 times higher than CK, respectively. Our study shows that phenylpropanoid biosynthesis may play an essential role in response to sclerotiniose pathogen infection and eugenol(isoeugenol) enrichment in mulberry fruit, which may provide a novel method for mulberry sclerotiniose control.

Imaginal disc growth factor maintains cuticle structure and controls melanization in the spot pattern formation of Bombyx mori

“…LC-MS analysis was performed as previously described [50]. All samples were analyzed by the LC-MS system complying the machine orders.…”

Investigation and rapid detection of fungal pathogens causing mulberry sclerotial disease in south‐west China

“…For S. shiraiana, the main emphasis of research is on its biosynthesis of melanin, which is closely related to pathogenicity and growth (Kang et al, 2017;Lü et al, 2017). In recent years, rapid progress has been made in transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics of diseased mulberry fruits, which has provided important clues on the molecular mechanisms of mulberry sclerotial disease (Bao et al, 2020;Dai et al, 2019). The pathogens of mulberry sclerotial disease have a narrow host spectrum.…”

“…shiraiana and C . carunculoides , respectively (Bao et al, 2020; Dai et al, 2019). The infection cycle of these three necrotrophic fungi is similar to other sclerotium‐forming ascomycetes, such as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Amselem et al, 2011; Bolton et al, 2006).…”

Engineering disease resistant plants through CRISPR-Cas9 technology

“…More recently, researchers combined the metabolomics with other "omics" approaches to obtain comprehensive overview of cellular processes in a physiological context. 119 For example, metabolomics analysis of Soybean hypocotyls, mulberry fruit was performed in response to Phtyophthora sojae and Ciboria shiraiana infection, respectively 120,121 and paves the way for future research of critical metabolic determinants in plant-pathogen studies. It is expected that in the future CRISPR system coupled with other techniques (GE/omics) will emerge to create disease-resistant plant varieties that can withstand the environmental, biotic stresses and provide adequate supply of food to the society.…”