title: Understanding developmental and adaptive cues in pine through metabolite profiling and co-expression network analysis.
abstract: Conifers include long-lived evergreen trees of great economic and ecological importance, including pines and spruces. During their long lives conifers must respond to seasonal environmental changes, adapt to unpredictable environmental stresses, and co-ordinate their adaptive adjustments with internal developmental programmes. To gain insights into these responses, we examined metabolite and transcriptomic profiles of needles from naturally growing 25-year-old maritime pine (Pinus pinaster L. Aiton) trees over a year. The effect of environmental parameters such as temperature and rain on needle development were studied. Our results show that seasonal changes in the metabolite profiles were mainly affected by the needles' age and acclimation for winter, but changes in transcript profiles were mainly dependent on climatic factors. The relative abundance of most transcripts correlated well with temperature, particularly for genes involved in photosynthesis or winter acclimation. Gene network analysis revealed relationships between 14 co-expressed gene modules and development and adaptation to environmental stimuli. Novel Myb transcription factors were identified as candidate regulators during needle development. Our systems-based analysis provides integrated data of the seasonal regulation of maritime pine growth, opening new perspectives for understanding the complex regulatory mechanisms underlying conifers' adaptive responses. Taken together, our results suggest that the environment regulates the transcriptome for fine tuning of the metabolome during development.
authors: Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Universitario de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain.
authors: Rafael A
authors: RA
authors: Cañas
authors: Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Universitario de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain.
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Canales
authors: Unidad de Nanoimagen, Centro Andaluz de Nanomedicina y Biotecnología (BIONAND), Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía, C/ Severo Ochoa 35, 29590 Campanillas (Málaga), Spain.
authors: Carmen
authors: C
authors: Muñoz-Hernández
authors: Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Universitario de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain.
authors: Jose M
authors: JM
authors: Granados
authors: Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Universitario de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain.
authors: Concepción
authors: C
authors: Ávila
authors: Unidad de Nanoimagen, Centro Andaluz de Nanomedicina y Biotecnología (BIONAND), Parque Tecnológico de Andalucía, C/ Severo Ochoa 35, 29590 Campanillas (Málaga), Spain.
authors: María L
authors: ML
authors: García-Martín
authors: Departamento de Biología Molecular y Bioquímica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, Campus Universitario de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain canovas@uma.es.
authors: Francisco M
authors: FM
authors: Cánovas
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D004777:Environment; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D055442:Metabolome; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D028223:Pinus / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D011891:Rain; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature; D059467:Transcriptome; D014197:Trees
keywords: Adaptation; Pinus pinaster.; development; gene co-expression analysis; metabolite profiling; needles