Nutrient Uptake in Huanglongbing-affected Sweet Orange: Transcriptomic and Physiological Analysis

To evaluate the transcriptome response of roots towards Hoagland solution of two-year-old healthy (C) and HLB-affected (T) sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L.) cultivar Midsweet grafted on Kuharskei Carrizo rootstock at three different time points; D1 (at the start of the experiment), D2 (After 3 days of Hoagland solution), D3 (After nine days of Hoagland solution), were performed using RNA sequencing analysis. A total of 9, 19, and 2324 DEGs were expressed in HLB-affected and healthy trees feeder roots on D1, D2, and D3, respectively. Due to a small number of DEGs in HLB-affected and healthy trees roots on D1 and D2, enrichment analysis could not be performed. At D3, Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis was performed using upregulated and downregulated DEGs in HLB-affected roots compared to healthy roots. For the upregulated DEGs in HLB-affected roots, the most enriched biological GO categories were related to transport, cellular amino acid metabolic process, oxoacid metabolic process, organic acid metabolic processes, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis process, response to carbohydrate stimulus, ethylene and the jasmonic acid-mediated signaling pathway, and regulation of plant hormone. The biological GO categories based on the number of DEGs associated with downregulated DEGs were the developmental process, phosphate metabolic process, protein modification process, defense response, growth, cell cycle, cell death, and ABA-mediated signaling pathway. The results of this study strongly suggest; although, the reduced biomass limits the nutrient uptake capacity in the plants as a whole, so in order to compensate for reduced root to shoot ratio the existing root undergo anatomical and transcriptomic changes to improve nutrient uptake efficiency to meet the nutrient demand of shoot systems. It is likely that higher inputs of energy in nutrient uptake possibly results in reducing the root longevity of HLB-affected trees. Good nutrition management practices are critical for the survival of HLB-affected trees as the availability and uptake of nutrients allow HLB-affected trees in response to abiotic and biotic stress. Samples (feeder root tissue) of two-year-old healthy (C) and HLB-affected (T) sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L.) cultivar Midsweet grafted on Kuharskei Carrizo rootstock treated with the Hoagland (fertilizer) solution at three different time points: D1 (at the start of the experiment), D2 (After 3 days of Hoagland solution treatment), D3 (After nine days of Hoagland solution treatment); each sample was analyzed in four biological replicates.