Transcriptome Analysis Revealed the Mechanisms Involved in Ultrasonic Seed Treatment-Induced Aluminum Tolerance in Peanut

• DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2021.807021
• Publication Date: 2022-02-08T10:55:40Z
• Authors: Gegen Bao; Qi Zhou; Shengyu Li; Umair Ashraf; Suihua Huang; Aimin Miao; Zhishang Cheng; Xiaorong Wan; Yixiong Zheng
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Cell biology; growth; Germination; Plant Science; Plant hormone; Horticulture; Signal transduction; Gene; Seed treatment; Biochemistry; SB1-1110; Agricultural and Biological Sciences; Abscisic acid; 03 medical and health sciences; Molecular Responses to Abiotic Stress in Plants; Biology; 2. Zero hunger; Jasmonic acid; 0303 health sciences; Plant Adaptation; Botany; Plant culture; Life Sciences; Salicylic acid; Role of Silicon in Plant Biology and Ecology; Plant Stress Resistance; Downregulation and upregulation; aluminum; gene expression; Mechanisms of Aluminum Toxicity and Tolerance in Plants; peanut; Gene expression; Transcription factor; Transcriptome; transcription factor genes

Ultrasonic (US) treatment is an efficient method to induce crop tolerance against heavy metal toxicity; however, US-induced aluminum (Al) tolerance in peanuts was rarely studied. This study was comprised of two treatments, namely, CK, without ultrasonic treatment, and US, an ultrasonic seed treatment, for 15 min. Both treated and non-treated treatments were applied with Al in the form of AlCl3.18H2O at 5 mmol L–1 in Hoagland solution at one leaf stage. Results depicted that plant height, main root length, and number of lateral roots increased significantly under US treatment. Transcriptome analysis revealed that plant hormone signal transduction and transcription factors (TFs) were significantly enriched in the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in US treatment, and the plant hormones were measured, including salicylic acid (SA) and abscisic acid (ABA) contents, were substantially increased, while indole acetic acid (IAA) and jasmonic acid (JA) contents were decreased significantly in US treatment. The TFs were verified using quantitative real-time (qRT)-PCR, and it was found that multiple TFs genes were significantly upregulated in US treatment, and ALMT9 and FRDL1 genes were also significantly upregulated in US treatment. Overall, the US treatment induced the regulation of hormone content and regulated gene expression by regulating TFs to improve Al tolerance in peanuts. This study provided a theoretical rationale for US treatment to improve Al tolerance in peanuts.