Skip to main content
Log in

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Cynanchum thesioides Under Drought Stress Reveals Candidate Genes Involved in Succinic Acid Biosynthesis

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Journal of Plant Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Cynanchum thesioides, a member of the Asclepiadaceae family, are plants that have been used in traditional Chinese medicine and their latex contains succinic acid which has an important medicinal value. To identify candidate genes involved in succinic acid biosynthesis and accumulation, we analyzed transcriptome data from C. thesioides under drought stress using Illumina sequencing technology. A total of 146 and 172 unique genes were annotated as encoding enzymes involved in the succinic acid biosynthesis of C. thesioides and C. thesioides var. australe and the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) was 40 and 32, respectively. As drought stress increased, nine genes were significantly up-regulated and seven genes were significantly down-regulated in C. thesioides. In C. thesioides var. australe seven genes were up-regulated and nine were down-regulated. Enzymes participating in succinic acid biosynthesis were ATP citrate (pro-S)-lyase, succinate dehydrogenase, aconitate hydratase, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, glutamate synthase, fumarate hydratase, succinyl-CoA synthetase, succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, 4-aminobutyrate transaminase, malate dehydrogenase, and glutamate decarboxylase and their activities relating to succinic acid synthesis were determined. RNA-seq sequencing was used in our study. The genes involved in biosynthesis and accumulation of succinic acid in C. thesioides were predicted. Succinic acid content was positively correlated with MDH (BMK_Unigene_033366), but negatively correlated with GAD (BMK_Unigene_096180 and BMK_Unigene_030468), SDH (BMK_Unigene_142841). These results provide an important resource for further research on succinic acid of C. thesioides and other homologous species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

ACLY:

ATP Citrate (pro-S)-lyase

SDH:

Succinate dehydrogenase

ACO:

Aconitate hydratase

OGDH:

2-Oxoglutarate dehydrogenase

CS:

Citrate synthase

GLT:

Glutamate synthase

FH:

Fumarate hydratase

SUCLA:

Succinyl-CoA synthetase

SSADH:

Succinate-semialdehyde dehydrogenase

GDH:

Glutamate dehydrogenase

IDH:

Isocitrate dehydrogenase

GABA-T:

4-Aminobutyrate transaminase

MDH:

Malate dehydrogenase

GAD:

Glutamate decarboxylase

CT:

Cynanchum thesioides (Freyn) K. Schum.

CA:

Cynanchum thesioides (Freyn) K. Schum. var. australe (Maxim.) Tsiang et P. T. Li

CK:

Control

LS:

Mild drought stress

MS:

Moderate drought stress

SS:

Severe drought stress

References

Download references

Funding

This study was supported by Applied Technology Research and Development Fund of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (2019GC237); Inner Mongolia Agricultural University special plant and animal species breeding (YZGC2017016); Science Fund of Inner Mongolia of China (2020MS03085, 2015MS0359); PhD Start-up Fund of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University (BT09-17). All funding played a role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

LZH and ZRY supervised the experiment. XYZ, ZL and HYZ performed the experiment work and prepared the figures and tables. XYZ wrote the manuscript. FLZ edited the final version of the manuscript. XYZ and FLZ contributed equally to this work. All authors have approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhongren Yang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Supplementary Information

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (TXT 3 KB) Table S1. The FPKM of DEGs involved in succinic acid biosynthesis

12374_2021_9301_MOESM2_ESM.doc

Supplementary file2 (DOC 148 KB) Table S2. Correlation analysis of index related succinic acid synthesis of C. thesioides. Note: * indicates a significant correlation at the 0.05 level. ** indicates a significant correlation at the 0.01 level. The top right represents C. thesioides and the bottom left represents C. thesioides var. australe

12374_2021_9301_MOESM3_ESM.xls

Supplementary file3 (XLS 350 KB) Table S3. Correlation between succinic acid and GABA concentration and related expression of enzyme genes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, X., Zhang, F., Li, Z. et al. Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Cynanchum thesioides Under Drought Stress Reveals Candidate Genes Involved in Succinic Acid Biosynthesis. J. Plant Biol. 66, 283–295 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-021-09301-w

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-021-09301-w

Keywords

Navigation