Transcriptome Analysis of Multi-leaf and Standard Clover of F1 Hybrids of Mengnong Clover No.1 and White Clover

In order to explore the causes of the trait occurrence of multi-leaf clover, the above-ground organs of multi-leaf clover and standard clover were extracted for transcriptome sequencing analysis.

Take the aerial organs (stem and leaf) of standard clover and multi-leaf clover, wipe them clean, put them into cryogenic tubes and store them in liquid nitrogen, bring them back to the laboratory and store them in ultra-low temperature refrigerator for sequencing.

The analysis identified 1,985 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including 794 upregulated and 1,191 downregulated genes, primarily enriched in protein phosphorylation, defense response, nuclear localization, cytosolic activity, oxidoreductase activity and protein binding processes. We found 68 and 121 genes uniquely expressed in polyphyllous and standard clover, respectively. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed a uniquely expressed gene (c68409.graph_c0) in polyphyllous clover involved in DNA replication, nucleotide excision repair, homologous recombination and mismatch repair pathways during meiosis. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for understanding the molecular mechanisms of leafy trait expression in crosses between Mengnong clover No.1 and white clover, supporting future research on stable multi-leaf trait inheritance.