AUTHOR=Gong Minggui , Bai Na , Su Jiajie , Wang Yuan , Wei Yanan , Zhang Qiaoming 

TITLE=Transcriptome analysis of Gossypium reveals the molecular mechanisms of Ca2+ signaling pathway on arsenic tolerance induced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1362296

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1362296

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have been demonstrated their ability to enhance the arsenic (As) tolerance of host plants, and making the utilization of mycorrhizal plants a promising and practical approach for remediating As-contaminated soils. However, comprehensive transcriptome analysis to reveal the molecular mechanism of As tolerance in the symbiotic process between AMF and host plants is still limited.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In this study, transcriptomic analysis of <italic>Gossypium</italic> seedlings was conducted with four treatments: non-inoculated <italic>Gossypium</italic> under non-As stress (CK0), non-inoculated <italic>Gossypium</italic> under As stress (CK100), <italic>F. mosseae</italic>-inoculated <italic>Gossypium</italic> under non-As stress (FM0), and <italic>F. mosseae</italic>-inoculated <italic>Gossypium</italic> under As stress (FM100).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Our results showed that inoculation with <italic>F. mosseae</italic> led to a reduction in net fluxes of Ca<sup>2+</sup>, while increasing Ca<sup>2+</sup> contents in the roots and leaves of <italic>Gossypium</italic> under the same As level in soil. Notably, 199 and 3129 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were specially regulated by <italic>F. mosseae</italic> inoculation under As stress and non-As stress, respectively. Through Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) annotation and enrichment analyses, we found that under As stress, <italic>F. mosseae</italic> inoculation up-regulated a significant number of genes related to the Ca<sup>2+</sup> signaling pathway genes, involved in cellular process, membrane part, and signal transduction. This suggests a potential role in mitigating As tolerance in <italic>Gossypium</italic> seedlings. Furthermore, our analysis identified specific DEGs in transcription factor families, including ERF, MYB, NAC, and WRKY, that were upregulated by <italic>F. mosseae</italic> inoculation. Conversely, MYB and HB-other were down-regulated. The ERF and MYB families exhibited the highest number of up- and down-regulated DEGs, respectively, which were speculated to play an important role in alleviating the As toxicity of <italic>Gossypium</italic>.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>Our findings provided valuable insights into the molecular theoretical basis of the Ca<sup>2+</sup> signaling pathway in improving As tolerance of mycorrhizal plants in the future.</p></sec>