Comprehensive transcriptome profiling of Caragana microphylla in response to salt condition using de novo assembly

Objective: To investigate the response of Caragana microphylla in salt condition, transcriptome analysis, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) comparison with Arabidopsis thaliana, and the chlorophyll content analysis were performed. Results: Gene Ontology (GO) term, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses of DEGs indicated that salt condition affected photosynthesis and chlorophyll in C. microphylla. The DEGs compared with salt responsive genes of A. thaliana indicated that C. microphylla’s responses to salt differed greatly from those of the model plant and that the results also indicated up-regulated genes related to photosynthesis and chlorophyll in C. microphylla. Moreover, we confirmed that salt-treated C. microphylla increased chlorophyll content, and the genes of protoporphyrin IX downstream in chlorophyll biosynthesis were induced in the heatmap analysis. Conclusions: These results showed a similar pattern to some halophytes plants with increased chlorophyll at a certain salt concentration, and we assumed that C. microphylla also has a mechanism to adapt or tolerate moderate salt conditions.