Symphytum officinale Raw sequence reads

Soil heavy metal contamination has become a global environmental issue, which threaten soil quality, food security and human health. Symphytum officinale have exhibited high tolerance and restoration capacity to heavy metals stress. However, little is kown about the mechanisms of heavy metals in S. officinale. In this study, transcriptomic and physiological changes of S. officinale response to different heavy metals (Pb, Cd and Zn) were analyzed and investigated the key genes and pathways involved in heavy metals uptake patterns. The results showed that phenotypic effects are not significant, and antioxidant enzyme activities were all upregulated. Transcriptome analysis indicated that 1247 differential genes were up-regulated, and 1963 differential genes were down-regulated under Cd stress, while 3752 differential genes were up-regulated, and 7197 differential genes were down-regulated under Pb stress; and 527 differential genes were up-regulated; and 722 differential genes were down-regulated under Zn stress. Based on their expression, we preliminarily speculate that different heavy metals resistance of S. officinale may be regulated by the differential expression of key genes. These results provide a theoretical basis for determining the exact expression of genes in plants under different heavy metal stress, the processes involved molecular pathways, and how they can be efficiently utilized to improve plant tolerance to toxic metals and improve phytoremediation efficiency.