Transcriptomic comparison between nickel hyperaccumulator and non-accumulator plant species from the Homalium genus (Salicaceae) endemic from New Caledonia. Transcriptomic comparison between nickel hyperaccumulator and non-accumulator plant species from the Homalium genus (Salicaceae) endemic from New Caledonia

The leaf transcriptome of the nickel hyperaccumulator species Homalium kanaliense (Salicaceae) endemic from New caledonia were compared to the closely related non-accumulator Homalium betulifolium, living on Gallery forest or maquis on serpentine soil, to identity differentially expressed genes potentially involved in Ni hyperaccumulation. Overall design: Leaves from 3 independant individual plants of Homalium kanaliense and Homalium betulifolium were collected in their natural environment. RNA of the 6 independant samples were extracted and sequenced using the Illumina paired-end sequencing technology. Reads from one individual plant per species were assembled de novo to generate transcriptome sequences. The transcriptome of H. kanaliense was used as a reference to compare the expression of genes in both species.

本研究以新喀里多尼亚（New Caledonia）特有、隶属于杨柳科（Salicaceae）的镍超富集植物（nickel hyperaccumulator）卡纳列天料木（Homalium kanaliense）的叶片转录组（transcriptome）为研究对象，将其与亲缘关系相近的非富集型物种桦叶天料木（Homalium betulifolium）进行对比分析；后者栖息于蛇纹石土壤的廊道林（Gallery forest）或玛基灌丛（maquis）生境，本研究旨在鉴定可能参与镍超富集过程的差异表达基因（differentially expressed genes）。实验设计（Overall design）：于两个物种的自然原生境中，分别采集3株独立个体植株的叶片样本。对共计6个独立样本的RNA进行提取，并采用Illumina双端测序技术（Illumina paired-end sequencing technology）完成测序。分别选取每个物种的1株个体的测序读段（reads）进行从头组装（de novo）以生成转录组序列。后续以卡纳列天料木的转录组作为参考序列，对两个物种的基因表达水平进行比较分析。