Comparative analysis of transcriptome and metabolome uncovers the metabolic differences between Dendrobium officinale protocorms and mature stems

Abstract

Dendrobium officinale caulis is the dried mature stems (Mat) of D. officinale Kimura et Migo. D. officinale protocorms (DOPs) are the conical embryonic tissues formed after seed germination. Previous studies suggest that these different plant parts possess similar pharmacological activities. However, the metabolic profiles and gene expression across different growth stages of D. officinale remain unknown. In this study, metabolome analysis based on GC and LC/MS/MS was carried out to assess the metabolic profile of both DOPs and Mat. Transcriptome analysis was used to reveal internal relationships between metabolites and the differing gene regulation. The results indicated that although DOPs and Mat had a similar chemical composition, they exhibited different patterns of content. GO classification and KEGG clustering of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between DOPs and Mat demonstrated that gene enrichment was mainly related to flavonoid biosynthetic and metabolic processes, carbohydrate metabolic processes, and polysaccharide catabolic processes. An alteration in gene expression related to specific metabolic pathways offered a probable explanation for the observed differences in metabolites between DOPs and Mat. This work provides a foundation for subsequent studies regarding the biosynthetic pathways of related metabolites from D. officinalis.

KEYWORDS:

• Dendrobium officinalis caulis
• Dendrobium officinale protocorms
• transcriptome analysis
• metabolome analysis

Acknowledgements

Open operation of Guangdong provincial key laboratory for research and development of traditional Chinese medicine and new drug. Grant number: 2017B030314096-01.

Data availability statement

The authors confirmed that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials. What’s more, the RNA-seq sequencing data of this study was deposited onto the China National GeneBank (https://db.cngb.org/cnsa/) with a project number of CNP0000967.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant number: 81903741].