Betalain accumulation and de novo transcriptome sequencing reveal the potential to increase bioactive compounds in Alternanthera sessilis elicited by methyl jasmonate

Alternanthera sessilis is a plant popularly known for its medicinal properties. Although there are many studies regarding the pharmacological activity of this species, there is little knowledge at the molecular level of the mechanisms involved in the biosynthesis and regulation of its secondary metabolites, mainly betalains. These pigments have high potential for use in industry and are produced exclusively by plants of the order Caryophyllales, to which this species belongs. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the differential expression of genes by RNA sequencing and the concentration of betalain in plants exposed to methyl jasmonate (MeJa) elicitation for 48 h. A total of 51,390,246 and 43,194,240 clean reads were obtained for the control treatment and MeJA elicited plants, respectively. Alignment of 97,117 transcripts against the AA-NCBI-NR bank using the Diamond program resulted in a total of 25,601 alignments; thus, a gene ontology (GO) annotation was published for 22,520 transcripts. Analysis of differentially expressed genes resulted in a total of 398 downregulated and 692 upregulated genes. The variable databases MapMan and KEGG, which contain metabolites, were more affected by the potential upregulation of MeJa during betalain biosynthesis. In addition, the betalain concentration (amaranthin, betanidin, betaine, and miraxanthin) increased after being elicited. These data demonstrate molecular reprogramming in response to methyl jasmonate elicitation and provides molecular data that serve as a basis for future analyses, mainly regarding the potential of this plant to produce betalamic pigments.