Transcriptomic Analysis of the Carbon Fixation Pathway in Photosynthetic Organisms of Pugionium cornutum (L.) under Drought Stress

In recent years, the problem of crop yield reduction caused by drought has become increasingly serious in countries around the world. China, in particular, is facing a pressing issue of water resource scarcity that is limiting agricultural production and food security. To address this, studying the drought resistance of plants is crucial to understanding the limitations of cultivated plants in dealing with drought. It can also contribute to an improvement in plant drought resistance theory and provide a theoretical foundation for sustainable agricultural development. In this study, we used Pugionium corntum (L.) Gaertn. as the experimental material and analyzed the transcriptome data of P. corntum under drought stress using high-throughput Illumina sequencing technology. Under the simulated drought environment, we compared P. corntum with the control and observed that the number of differentially expressed genes involved in the carbon fixation pathway in photosynthetic organisms was 14 and 30 under moderate and severe drought stress, respectively. Our findings revealed the presence of genes related to the C4 cycle pathway in P. corntum, which effectively explains its adaptation mechanism to arid desert environments. This adaptation mechanism alleviates the negative impact of drought on photosynthesis in seedlings.