Comprehensive temporal reprogramming ensures dynamicity of transcriptomic profile for adaptive response in Taxus...

Area of Science:

• Plant biology
• Ecology
• Genomics

Background:

• Plants exhibit dynamic transcriptome changes in response to environmental perturbations.
• Understanding these oscillations provides insights into plant ecological adaptation.
• Taxus contorta's adaptive strategies to changing environments remain incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the seasonal transcriptome dynamics of Taxus contorta.
• To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying T. contorta's adaptation to natural environmental fluctuations.
• To correlate transcriptomic and metabolomic changes with adaptive responses.

Main Methods:

• RNA sequencing (RNAseq) for gene expression profiling.
• Analysis of alternative splicing (AS) and single nucleotide variations (SNVs).
• Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based untargeted metabolic profiling.

Main Results:

• Identified 6727 differentially expressed genes.
• Observed significant reprogramming in Taxol biosynthesis, redox homeostasis, and UV-B/light/temperature stress responses.
• Detected differential exon usage (DEU) in 1936 transcripts and differential SNVs.
• Identified 334 differentially regulated metabolites.

Conclusions:

• The dynamic oscillations in the transcriptome and metabolome of T. contorta are crucial for its adaptability and survival in changing environments.
• Alternative splicing and SNVs complement differential gene expression in conferring flexibility.
• This study offers new insights into the performance of T. contorta under varying seasonal conditions.