Exploration On Resource Allocation Mechanism Of Medicinal Plant Aconitum Kusnezoffii Rchb In The Whole Growth Season Of Changbai Mountain

Plants need to dynamically allocate their limited resources in order to survive and reproduce.In this process,although vegetative growth,sexual reproduction,asexual reproduction and defense are the four basic aspects of plant life cycle,there are two deficiencies in previous studies.On the one hand,only a part of these four life history processes are considered in relevant studies,and most of them are compared in pairs,which leads to different results according to different aspects of the study.On the other hand,life history events such as flowering will lead to metabolic recombination,so it is necessary to investigate the whole growing season of plants in order to avoid incomplete conclusions.As the above four life history processes of Aconitum kusnezoffii Rchb are very obvious,it is selected as the research object in this study.During the whole growth process of wild A.kusnezoffii,the morphological indexes,dry matter accumulation,total organic carbon accumulation and total nitrogen accumulation of shoot,principal root and fuzi(lateral root,asexual propagation of A.kusnezoffii)were continuously studied.Through pairwise correlation analysis and growth rate comparison,this study summarized the resource allocation model of A.kusnezoffii in the above four aspects.It was found that the vegetative growth began first.After it ceased,sexual development began.Flower organ development was accompanied by increased photosynthesis,and the PR consumed temporarily stored resources after flower formation.Asexual propagule development initiated earlier than sexual reproduction,and kept accumulating resources since then.The development was slow before flower formation,which mainly manifested as length increase;and then,after the formation,it accelerated via enhanced material accumulation.Defensive compounds were maintained at low levels before flowering.Particularly,their turnovers were enhanced before and after flower bud emergence,providing resources for other processes.After the flower formation,the defense compounds were accumulated.The PR,as a more direct storage site for photosynthate,is a buffer unit for resources.The results of transcriptome sequencing and metabolite content analysis further showed that the PR and fuzi of the plant enhanced the accumulation of defensive compounds at the same time,when the flowers began to bloom.This is achieved through the synthesis of defensive compounds by the PR and transporting them to the fuzi.At the same time,the decomposition of macromolecular compounds in the PR was enhanced,while the resource consumption of the fuzi was inhibited,and the resource transport of both was enhanced.These evidences are consistent with the accelerated accumulation of the fuzi at this time.In order to avoid the disturbance caused by the accidental fluctuation of the environment on the exploration of plant resource allocation mode,this study not only tracked the indicators of wild A.kusnezoffii,but also parallelly tracked a number of cultivated seedlings of A.kusnezoffii.By comparing the cultivated data with the wild data,this study found that most of the resource allocation patterns of the plants were relatively stable and did not change with the change of environment.Through the continuous tracking of natural A.kusnezoffii and the comparative verification of cultivated A.kusnezoffii,the plant resource allocation model revealed in this study can provide a vivid example with reference significance for the related research,and lay the foundation for revealing the deeper plant regulation mechanism.Correlation analysis of basic data,transcriptome analysis and quantitative evidence of metabolites show that the fuzi is a resource sink from beginning to end,and the principal root plays a role of resource buffer in the whole plant resource allocation,which means that the metabolic regulation of life is complex.Since the fuzi reproduction and toxic characteristics of A.kusnezoffii are common in Aconitum genus,these results can reflect its typical pattern of resource allocation.In addition,this revealed strategy as a vivid example,should be able to inspire further studies on resource allocation patterns for other plants,and also help us to explain and predict their environmental adaptability,and to guide medicinal plants to allocate more resources to the accumulation of medicinal ingredients.