ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Metabolism and Chemodiversity
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1662457
This article is part of the Research TopicMolecular Architects of the Green World: Genetic, Epigenetic, and Transcriptional Regulation of Plant Metabolism and Chemo-diversityView all 6 articles
Multi-omics analysis of organ-specific hormone distribution and molecular regulatory mechanisms in Cinnamomum burmanni
Provisionally accepted
Tanhang Zhang1
Jun Yao2
Qian Zhang2Yanling Cai2Huiming Lian2Minghuai Wang2Jielian Chen2
Huihui Zhang1
Chen Hou2*- 1Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
- 2Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, China
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Cinnamomum burmanni serves as a principal arboreal species utilized for the extraction of essential oils, which contain a wide array of terpenoid compounds in its foliage and branches. These compounds are extensively utilized in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors. However, the organ-specific distribution of phytohormones and the underlying molecular regulatory mechanisms in C. burmanni have not been fully elucidated. Consequently, this study presents the first comprehensive metabolomic, transcriptomic, and full-length transcriptomic analysis aimed at systematically elucidating the organ-specific hormone distribution and molecular regulatory networks within the leaves, stems, and roots of borneol-type C. burmanni. The research identified 70 significantly differential hormones, comprising 32 cytokinin (CTK)-related hormones, 19 auxin-related hormones, and 7 gibberellin (GA)-related hormones, uncovering distinct organ-specific patterns: indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) predominantly accumulated in leaves, while GA and CTK were highly expressed in stems. Additionally, 812 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified among different organs, including 50 hormone signaling-related DEGs pinpointed via weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA). Further investigations indicated that several putative transcription factors (TFs), including ARF, bHLH (PIF3/4), GRAS (DELLA), G2-like (GLK/KAN1/2/HH2O/APL/FT) and ARR-B, may constitute a core regulatory module that mediates hormone-dependent growth, development, and terpenoid biosynthesis. This study establishes the first multi-omics-driven hormonal interaction network framework for molecular breeding of C. burmanni, while developing a gene editing target atlas to elucidate synergistic regulatory mechanisms underlying medicinal secondary metabolite biosynthesis.
Keywords: Cinnamomum burmanni, Plant hormone, Metabolome, Transcriptome, Full-length transcriptome
Received: 09 Jul 2025; Accepted: 27 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Yao, Zhang, Cai, Lian, Wang, Chen, Zhang and Hou. 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: Chen Hou, Guangdong Academy of Forestry, Guangzhou, China
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