Transcriptome Analysis of Sugarcane Young Leaves and Protoplasts after Enzymatic Digestion

Sugarcane somatic cell hybridization can break through the barrier of genetic incompatibility between distantly related species in traditional breeding. However, the molecular mechanisms of sugarcane protoplast regeneration and the conditions for protoplast preparation remain largely unknown. In this study, young sugarcane (ROC22) leaves were enzymatically digested, and the viability of protoplasts reached more than 90% after enzymatic digestion (Enzymatic combination: 2% cellulase + 0.5% pectinase + 0.1% dissociative enzyme + 0.3% hemicellulase, pH = 5.8). Transcriptome sequencing was performed on young sugarcane leaves and protoplasts after enzymatic digestion to analyze the differences in gene expression in somatic cells before and after enzymatic digestion. A total of 117,411 unigenes and 43,460 differentially expressed genes were obtained, of which 21,123 were up-regulated and 22,337 down-regulated. The GO terms for the 43,460 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were classified into three main categories: biological process, cellular component and molecular function, which related to developmental process, growth, cell proliferation, transcription regulator activity, signal transducer activity, antioxidant activity, oxidative stress, kinase activity, cell cycle, cell differentiation, plant hormone signal transduction, and so on. After enzymatic digestion of young sugarcane leaves, the expressions of GAUT, CESA, PSK, CyclinB, CyclinA, CyclinD3 and cdc2 genes associated with plant regeneration were significantly down-regulated to 65%, 47%, 2%, 18.60%, 21.32%, 52% and 45% of young leaves, respectively. After enzymatic digestion, Aux/IAA expression was up-regulated compared with young leaves, and Aux/IAA expression was 3.53 times higher than that of young leaves. Compared with young leaves, these key genes were significantly changed after enzymatic digestion. These results indicate that the process of somatic enzymatic digestion process may affect the regeneration of heterozygous cells to a certain extent.