ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1624335
This article is part of the Research TopicSurviving and Thriving: How Crops Perceive and Respond to Temperature Stress Volume IIView all 4 articles
Deciphering the Molecular Signatures of Tropical Areca catechu L. Under Cold Stress: An Integrated Physiological and Transcriptomic Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hainan University, Haikou, China
- 2Synthetic biology center, School of Future Technology, and Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China, Hainan University, Haikou, China
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Areca catechu is a widely cultivated palm species with significant economic and medicinal value. However, A. catechu is a tropical plant that is particularly susceptible to low temperatures. This study integrates physiological profiling with transcriptomic sequencing to systematically investigate the cold-response mechanisms of A. catechu. Multivariate variance analysis revealed that peroxidase (POD) activity and chlorophyll content are significant biomarkers strongly correlated with cold tolerance. A comprehensive investigation into the temporal expression of genes in response to 24 hours of cold stress was conducted, using RNA-seq analysis. This analysis yielded a substantial number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), amounting to 20,870, which were found to be subject to temporal regulation. KEGG pathway enrichment analysis revealed substantial activation in three metabolic pathways: phytohormone signaling, alkaloid biosynthesis (tropane/piperidine/pyridine), and flavonoid biosynthesis. The application of Weighted Gene Coexpression Network Analysis (WGCNA), in conjunction with a dynamic tree-cutting algorithm, resulted in the identification of 25 co-expression modules. Eigenvector centrality analysis identified six hub genes responsive to cold stress: ZMYND15, ABHD17B, ATL8, WNK5, XTH3 and TPS. The findings of this study delineate three key aspects: (1) temporal dynamics of cold-responsive physiological processes, (2) pathway-level characterization of DEG enrichment patterns, and (3) genetic determinants underlying cold stress adaptation. These findings clarify the time series and core physiological indicators of A. catechu during various physiological processes, identify pivotal genes associated with cold stress, and provide a gene-to-phenotype framework for optimizing cold-resilient cultivation protocols and molecular marker-assisted breeding strategies.
Keywords: Areca catechu L1, cold stress2, Multivariate analysis3, RNA-Seq4, WGCNA5
Received: 07 May 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Zhang, Wen, Ji, Chen, Tian, Yang and He. 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:
fusun Yang, Hainan University, Haikou, China
Jun He, Synthetic biology center, School of Future Technology, and Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, Fujian, China, Hainan University, Haikou, China
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