{"title":"Unraveling the regulatory network of barley grain metabolism through the integrative analysis of multiomics and mQTL.","authors":"Ruilian Song, Yixiang Wang, Yanjun Li, Qifei Wang, Siyu Zhang, Dongfa Sun, Genlou Sun, Longqing Sun, Xifeng Ren","doi":"10.1038/s41467-025-60501-1","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Although metabolites of barley grains have been analyzed, the changes in metabolite abundance and gene expression regulation mechanisms during barley grain development have not been elucidated. Here, we explore the dynamic accumulation patterns of metabolites in barley grains at six different developmental stages by analyzing high-resolution metabolomic and transcriptomic data from Huadamai6 and Huaai11. We detect 986 metabolites and 18,868 co-expressed genes. Meanwhile, we identify 1057 mQTLs associated with 553 metabolites in a double haploid (DH) population derived from these two cultivars, and integrate metabolome, transcriptome, and mQTL information to construct a global co-expression regulatory network of barley grain metabolism. Using this dataset, we excavate transcription factors and structural genes that regulate flavonoid metabolism pathway, and also reveal the complex mechanism of HvC1-1 and HvMYC-1 regulating grain color differentiation in the DH population. Our findings reveal the metabolic regulatory network of barley grains development, and provide valuable resources for future nutritional quality improvement and molecular design breeding of barley.</p>","PeriodicalId":19066,"journal":{"name":"Nature Communications","volume":"16 1","pages":"5544"},"PeriodicalIF":14.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12214886/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Communications","FirstCategoryId":"103","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60501-1","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Although metabolites of barley grains have been analyzed, the changes in metabolite abundance and gene expression regulation mechanisms during barley grain development have not been elucidated. Here, we explore the dynamic accumulation patterns of metabolites in barley grains at six different developmental stages by analyzing high-resolution metabolomic and transcriptomic data from Huadamai6 and Huaai11. We detect 986 metabolites and 18,868 co-expressed genes. Meanwhile, we identify 1057 mQTLs associated with 553 metabolites in a double haploid (DH) population derived from these two cultivars, and integrate metabolome, transcriptome, and mQTL information to construct a global co-expression regulatory network of barley grain metabolism. Using this dataset, we excavate transcription factors and structural genes that regulate flavonoid metabolism pathway, and also reveal the complex mechanism of HvC1-1 and HvMYC-1 regulating grain color differentiation in the DH population. Our findings reveal the metabolic regulatory network of barley grains development, and provide valuable resources for future nutritional quality improvement and molecular design breeding of barley.
期刊介绍:
Nature Communications, an open-access journal, publishes high-quality research spanning all areas of the natural sciences. Papers featured in the journal showcase significant advances relevant to specialists in each respective field. With a 2-year impact factor of 16.6 (2022) and a median time of 8 days from submission to the first editorial decision, Nature Communications is committed to rapid dissemination of research findings. As a multidisciplinary journal, it welcomes contributions from biological, health, physical, chemical, Earth, social, mathematical, applied, and engineering sciences, aiming to highlight important breakthroughs within each domain.