This study investigated the effects of ultrasonication treatment on the germination rate of brown rice. Brown rice grains were subjected to ultrasound (40 kHz/30 min) and then incubated for 36 h at 37 °C to germinate the seeds. Ultrasonic treatment increased the germination rate of brown rice by up to ∼28 % at 30 h. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses were performed to explore the mechanisms underlying the effect of ultrasonic treatment on the brown rice germination rate. Comparing the treated and control check samples, 867 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 638 upregulated and 229 downregulated), as well as 498 differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs), including 422 up accumulated and 76 down accumulated. Multi-omics analysis revealed that the germination rate of brown rice was promoted by increased concentrations of low-molecular metabolites (carbohydrates and carbohydrate conjugates, fatty acids, amino acids, peptides, and analogues), and transcription factors (ARR-B, NAC, bHLH and AP2/EREBP families) as well as increased carbon metabolism. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms of action of ultrasound in improving the brown rice germination rate and candidate DEGs and DAMs responsible for germination have been identified.

本研究考察了超声处理对糙米发芽率的影响。糙米谷物经过超声波处理（40 kHz/30 分钟），然后在 37 °C 下孵育 36 小时以使种子发芽。超声波处理在 30 小时内将糙米的发芽率提高了约 28%。进行了转录组学和代谢组学分析，以探索超声处理对糙米发芽率影响的潜在机制。比较处理和对照检查样本，鉴定出 867 个差异表达基因 (DEG)，包括 638 个上调和 229 个下调)，以及 498 个差异积累的代谢物 (DAM)，包括 422 个向上积累和 76 个向下积累。多组学分析表明，低分子代谢物（碳水化合物和碳水化合物结合物、脂肪酸、氨基酸、肽和类似物）和转录因子（ARR-B、NAC、 bHLH 和 AP2/EREBP 家族）以及增加的碳代谢。这些发现为超声波提高糙米发芽率的作用机制提供了新的见解，并且已经确定了负责发芽的候选 DEG 和 DAM。