The study was aimed to explore the physiological response and gene expression differences of cassava seedlings under waterlogging stress and to provide theoretical basis for disaster prevention and reduction of cassava northward migration cultivation in Hunan Province. Seedlings of cassava NZ199 were used, and two waterlogging levels of moderate (W1) and severe (W2) were set. The normal water supply (CK) was used as the control. The photosynthetic characteristics and antioxidant enzyme activities of the seedlings were measured after 14 days of stress and after rewatering, and transcriptome sequencing analysis was performed on the leaves after 14 days of stress. The results showed that with the aggravation of stress, the net photosynthetic rate decreased, and the stomatal conductance, intercellular CO2 concentration and transpiration rate showed an overall upward trend. The activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase and peroxidase were significantly higher than those of CK under waterlogging stress, the content of malondialdehyde increased, and the degree of accumulation was positively correlated with the degree of stress, indicating that the plant initiated the antioxidant mechanism when suffering from waterlogging, but still suffered a certain degree of oxidative damage. After rewatering treatment, the photosynthetic index decreased significantly compared with that before stress. Antioxidant enzyme activity and malondialdehyde content also decreased, indicating that although the plant had a certain recovery ability, it did not fully recover to the normal level before stress. The results of transcriptome sequencing showed that 900, 1542 and 575 differentially expressed genes were identified in the three comparison groups of W1 vs CK, W2 vs CK and W2 vs W1, respectively, of which 1594 were up-regulated and 1423 were down-regulated. The pathways significantly enriched by KEGG included flavonoid biosynthesis, starch and sucrose metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, etc. In summary, cassava seedlings have certain waterlogging resistance, but the waterlogging resistance has a threshold value. Timely drainage after waterlogging helps to reduce plant damage. In this study, the physiological and gene expression changes of cassava under different degrees of waterlogging stress in Hunan were systematically analyzed, and several differentially expressed genes and pathways related to waterlogging resistance were identified, which would lay a theoretical foundation for screening candidate genes of cassava in response to waterlogging stress, and also provide a new direction for further research on the molecular mechanism of cassava waterlogging resistance and the cultivation of waterlogging resistant varieties.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |