Mining and analysis of key genes related to rice seed longevity in NJ9108 based on transcriptomics

Seed longevity is the period over which seeds remain viable and capable of gemination, and is an important trait of seed quality. Longevity changes in seed directly affect the germination rate, seedling morphology, and storage time. Therefore, the identification of seed longevity genes has significant value for cultivating seeds that are storage-resistant and have long lifespan. The study found that NJ9108 seeds are a type of rice that is resistant to aging; Using transcriptomic technology, the annotated genes were subjected to mfuzz fuzzy clustering and divided into 6 subtypes, with a total of 8,384 genes upregulated/downregulated by aging induction. These differentially expressed genes are enriched into biological processes (BP), cellular components (CC), and molecular functions (MF), with 42 genes enriched in phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, 31 genes enriched in sugar signaling, and 42 genes enriched in plant hormone signaling pathways. They are the most important pathways involved in the aging resistance process of NJ9108. qRT-PCR results showed that compared with ZH11, 4CL5, CAD5, PRX3 and PRX86 in the phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathway were significantly upregulated in NJ9108 after aging; BGLU18, BGLU22 and TPP3 in the sugar signaling pathway were significantly upregulated in NJ9108; RR12 and SAPK5 involved in the plant hormone signaling pathway were significantly upregulated after aging, while IAA12 and IAA20 were significantly downregulated in NJ9108 seeds. The expression trends of these genes are consistent with transcriptomic results, suggesting that these genes regulating rice seed longevity. BGLU18, BGLU22, OsRR12, and TPP3, as the new identified seed longevity genes, can be further studied in the future. Above all, the experimental results provide a theoretical basis for understanding the regulatory network of rice seed longevity and for breeding rice varieties that are resistant to aging.