- Sun S, Wang Y, Wang J, Tan M, Yan H, So K, Zhang Y. (2023) Transcriptome responses to salt stress in roots and leaves of Lilium pumilum. Scientia Horticulturae 309, 111622.
Salt stress seriously affects the growth and development of plants. Most species of lilies are not salt tolerant, thus salt affecting their geographical application. As a wild flower, Lilium pumilum is an excellent breeding material because of its bright colors, strong salt tolerance and cold tolerance. There are few studies on the salt tolerance mechanism and salt tolerance gene mining of L. pumilum. In this study, the salt tolerance threshold of L. pumilum was determined to be approximately 150 mM and the abundant ion translocation occurs in roots and leaves at the concentration. RNA-seq was used to characterize the transcriptome differences between L. pumilum leaves and roots treated with 150 mM NaCl for 2 and 12 h. By de novo assembly, 47,763 and 76,871 unigenes were identified in L. pumilum leaves and roots, respectively. Differentially expressed genes in leaves were higher than those in roots at 2 h, whereas the opposite result was obtained at 12 h. GO analysis of DEGs showed that transcriptional regulation and redox processes were significantly enriched, and KEGG annotation indicated that L. pumilum roots and leaves responded to salt stress mainly through phytohormone signaling, MAPK signaling pathways, and starch and sucrose metabolism. These results reveal important salt stress-related genes and metabolic pathways in L. pumilum, providing valuable information for exploring the salt tolerance mechanism of L. pumilum, screening salt tolerance genes and breeding new salt-tolerant L. pumilum varieties.