Metabolome and transcriptome analysis revealed the effect of soft rot pathogen on the metabolites of Pinellia ternata tuber

Abstract

The dried tuber of Pinellia ternata (Thunb.) Breit (P. ternata) is a key component of traditional Chinese medicine, with its quality directly influencing its therapeutic efficacy. However, soft rot poses a major threat to P. ternata production, severely reducing both yield and quality. In this study, metabolomic and transcriptomic analyses were employed to investigate the metabolic and transcriptional changes induced by soft rot in P. ternata. Following infection with soft rot bacterium, 41 down-regulated metabolites and 266 up-regulated metabolites were identified, along with 17448 down-regulated unigenes and 16926 up-regulated unigenes. The content of nucleosides, organic acids, and saccharides in the tubers were significantly affected by soft rot. KEGG analysis revealed that the metabolisms of propanoate and linoleic acid were significantly improved, while the metabolism of starch and sucrose was inhibited. Transcriptome analysis identified 10 key genes involved in these three metabolic pathways, and their expression patterns were validated by qRT-PCR. This study elucidates the impact of soft rot on P. ternata from changes in metabolite content and gene expression, providing a theoretical foundation for the safe medicinal use of P. ternata tubers and offering new insights for developing metabolite-based green strategies to prevent and control soft rot.