Combined Transcriptome and Metabolome Analysis of Alfalfa Response to Thrips Infection

Overview

Journal Genes (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Date 2021 Dec 24

PMID 34946916

Citations 17

Authors

Zhiqiang Zhang

Qi Chen

Yao Tan

Shuang Shuang

Rui Dai

Xiaohong Jiang

Buhe Temuer

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) is a major insect pest for alfalfa which can result in decreased plant nutrients, low yields, and even plant death. To identify the differentially expressed genes and metabolites in response to thrips in alfalfa, a combination of metabolomics and transcriptomics was employed using alfalfa (Caoyuan No. 2) with and without thrips infestation. The results showed that the flavonoid biosynthesis and isoflavonoid biosynthesis pathways were the most significantly enriched pathways in response to thrips infection, as shown by the combined transcriptome and metabolome analysis. The transcriptome results showed that SA and JA signal transduction and PAPM-triggered immunity and the MAPK signaling pathway-plant pathways played a crucial role in thrips-induced plant resistance in alfalfa. In addition, we found that thrips infestation could also induce numerous changes in plant primary metabolism, such as carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism as compared to the control. Overall, our results described here should improve fundamental knowledge of molecular responses to herbivore-inducible plant defenses and contribute to the design of strategies against thrips in alfalfa.

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