Integrated analysis of transcriptomic and metabolomic reveal insights into low-temperature stress in sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) seedlings

作者：Jiao Cheng, Kun Wang, Yuheng Yao, Shiwen Wu, Lili Nan · 发表于：BMC Plant Biology · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1186/s12870-025-07474-x · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Plant Gene Expression Analysis、Plant responses to water stress、Plant Stress Responses and Tolerance

BACKGROUND: Sainfoin, a valuable native legume forage grass in northwest China, is commonly used as livestock feed and exhibits resistance to environmental stressors. Although sainfoin displays some resistance, low temperature remains a significant limiting factor in its geographical distribution. Notably, previous studies have predominantly focused on more morphological adaptations, whereas the dynamic gene expression profiles and metabolic regulatory networks underlying sainfoin’s response to low-temperature stress remain poorly understood. RESULTS: In this study, we collected the leaves of the cold-tolerant new strain P4 (RC) and the cold-sensitive material 13709 (SC) after low-temperature (4 °C) treatment. Through transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses, we aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying sainfoin’s response to low-temperature stress. The UPLC-MS/MS analysis and Illumina HiSeq system were employed to detect 6619 metabolites and annotate 6939 genes. The metabolomic analysis revealed 26 common differential accumulated metabolites (DAMs) in the cold-tolerant and cold-sensitive sainfoin at different comparisons. These DAMs were primarily categorized into lipids, phenylpropanoids, and polyketides. Transcriptome analysis identified 1045, 1412, 5010, and 3119 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in different comparison groups. By integrating the transcriptomic and metabolomic datasets, it was observed that several DAMs were closely associated with DEGs. K...