ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1620189
Transcriptomic-Proteomic Analysis Reveals the Regulatory Mechanisms of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in Response to Fusarium acuminatum
Provisionally accepted
Zhidan Shi1
Hongxia Sun2Lifen Hao3Yongqin Yang2
Guo Chen2Haiyan Huangfu2Hongli Huo2Lili Zhao1Jiuru Huangfu2Haijun Ding2Yongyu Fang2Ziqin Li2*
Yiding Niu1*- 1Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
- 2Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural & Animal Husbandry Sciences, hohhot, China
- 3Institute of Grassland Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, hohhot, China
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Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) is the most widely cultivated and important forage crop worldwide, owing to its high protein content. However, alfalfa Fusarium root rot seriously affects and restricts the yield and quality. To better understand the response mechanism of alfalfa to root rot, we used transcriptomic and proteomic methods to analyze differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in alfalfa inoculated with Fusarium acuminatum on 0, 3, and 13 days. In total, 13,017 DEGs (6902 upregulated, 6115 downregulated) and 4830 DEPs (697 upregulated, 659 downregulated) were identified. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto and Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses indicated that the DEGs and DEPs were mainly enriched in the cell cortex, flavonoid biosynthesis, and amino acid metabolism on day 3, whereas on day 13, they were primarily enriched in the cell wall, defense response, and flavonoid biosynthesis. Transcriptome and proteome analyses showed the same expression pattern of 81 genes and their corresponding proteins, which were mainly enriched in amino acid metabolism, cell wall synthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, glucose metabolism, and plant-pathogen interactions. This study contributes to the understanding of the molecular mechanism of the alfalfa response to F. acuminatum infection and provides an important basis for further research and in-depth characterization of candidate genes for breeding alfalfa root rot resistance.
Keywords: Fusarium root rot, Proteome, Transcriptome, Plant-pathogen interaction, association analysis
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 08 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shi, Sun, Hao, Yang, Chen, Huangfu, Huo, Zhao, Huangfu, Ding, Fang, Li and Niu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ziqin Li, Inner Mongolia Academy of Agricultural & Animal Husbandry Sciences, hohhot, China
Yiding Niu, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, China
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