Combined analysis of the metabolome and transcriptome reveals the metabolic characteristics and candidate genes involved in alkaloid metabolism in Heuchera micrantha Douglas ex Lindl

Abstract

Abstract Background Alkaloids, important secondary metabolites produced by plants, play a crucial role in responding to environmental stress. Heuchera micrantha, a well-known plant used in landscaping, has the ability to purify air, and absorb toxic and radioactive substances, showing strong environmental adaptability. However, there is still limited understanding of the accumulation characteristics and metabolic mechanism of alkaloids in H. micrantha. Results In this study, four distinct varieties of H. micrantha were used to investigate the accumulation and metabolic traits of alkaloids in its leaves. We conducted a combined analysis of the plant’s metabolome and transcriptome. Our analysis identified 44 alkaloids metabolites in the leaves of the four H. micrantha varieties, with 26 showing different levels of accumulation among the groups. The HT and JQ varieties exhibited higher accumulation of differential alkaloid metabolites compared to YH and HY. We annotated the differential alkaloid metabolites to 22 metabolic pathways, including several alkaloid metabolism. Transcriptome data revealed 5064 differentially expressed genes involved in these metabolic pathways. Multivariate analysis showed that four key metabolites (N-hydroxytryptamine, L-tyramine, tryptamine, and 2-phenylethylamine) and three candidate genes (Cluster-15488.116815, Cluster-15488.146268, and Cluster-15488.173297) that merit further investigation. Conclusions This study provided preliminarily insight into the molecular mechanism of the biosynthesis of alkaloids in H. micrantha. However, further analysis is required to elucidate the specific regulatory mechanisms of the candidate gene involved in the synthesis of key alkaloid metabolites. In summary, our findings provide important information about how alkaloid metabolites build up and the metabolic pathways involved in H. micrantha varieties. This gives us a good starting point for future research on the regulation mechanism, and development, and utilization of alkaloids in H. micrantha.