Effects of Donor Ages and Propagation Methods on Seedling Growth of <i>Platycladus orientalis</i> (L.) Franco in Winter

To evaluate the effects of donor ages on growth and stress resistance of 6-year-old seedlings propagated from 5-, 2000-, and 3000-year-old <i>Platycladus orientalis</i> donors with grafting, cutting, and seed sowing, growth indicators and physiological and transcriptomic analyses were pe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yao Dong, Wenfa Xiao, Wei Guo, Yifu Liu, Wen Nie, Ruizhi Huang, Cancan Tan, Zirui Jia, Jianfeng Liu, Zeping Jiang, Ermei Chang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-04-01
Series:International Journal of Molecular Sciences
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/24/8/7170
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Summary:To evaluate the effects of donor ages on growth and stress resistance of 6-year-old seedlings propagated from 5-, 2000-, and 3000-year-old <i>Platycladus orientalis</i> donors with grafting, cutting, and seed sowing, growth indicators and physiological and transcriptomic analyses were performed in 6-year-old seedlings in winter. Results showed that basal stem diameters and plant heights of seedlings of the three propagation methods decreased with the age of the donors, and the sown seedlings were the thickest and tallest. The contents of soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and free fatty acid in apical leaves of the three propagation methods were negatively correlated with donor ages in winter, while the opposite was true for flavonoid and total phenolic. The contents of flavonoid, total phenolic, and free fatty acid in cutting seedlings were highest in the seedlings propagated in the three methods in winter. KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes showed phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and fatty acid metabolism pathways, and their expression levels were up-regulated in apical leaves from 6-year-old seedlings propagated from 3000-year-old <i>P. orientalis</i> donors. In addition, hub genes analysis presented that <i>C4H</i>, <i>OMT1</i>, <i>CCR2</i>, <i>PAL</i>, <i>PRX52</i>, <i>ACP1</i>, <i>AtPDAT2</i>, and <i>FAD3</i> were up-regulated in cutting seedlings, and the gene expression levels decreased in seedlings propagated from 2000- and 3000-year-old donors. These findings demonstrate the resistance stability of cuttings of <i>P. orientalis</i> and provide insights into the regulatory mechanisms of seedlings of <i>P. orientalis</i> propagated from donors at different ages in different propagation methods against low-temperature stress.
ISSN:1661-6596
1422-0067