Transcriptomic Analysis of the Impact of Soil Covering on Shoot Palatability of Ma Bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus Munro)

Soil-covering and light-exclusion are vital silvicultural practices in bamboo-stand management for improving bamboo-shoot palatability, yet their underlying molecular regulatory mechanisms remain largely unclear. This study aimed to decipher how soil covering modulates flavor and texture in Dendrocalamus latiflorus shoots. Shoots under covered-soil (CSE) and uncovered-soil (USE) conditions were subjected to physicochemical determination of soluble sugar, cellulose, soluble protein and total amino acids, combined with transcriptome sequencing; eight key genes were further validated by RT-qPCR. CSE shoots exhibited significantly elevated soluble sugar and cellulose contents, significantly reduced soluble protein levels, and comparable total amino acid concentrations. In total, 5233 differentially expressed genes were detected. Transcriptomic profiling revealed down-regulation of key synthase genes for tannin and oxalate biosynthesis, implying reduced accumulation of these astringent compounds, alongside repressed lignin and hemicellulose modification pathways and activated cellulose-related soluble-sugar metabolism. Our results suggest that soil-covering and light-exclusion coordinately reprogram multiple metabolic pathways to enhance shoot quality, offering candidate genes and theoretical references for the cultivation of high-quality shoots in managed bamboo forests and flavor-oriented molecular breeding.