Multi-omics analysis reveals the flavor formation mechanism of prized woody vegetable plant Yunnanopilia longistaminea

For genome-related analyses, RNA was extracted from the root, stem, and leaf samples (three biological replicates each). For flavor-related analyses, twigs from the four developmental stages and edible inflorescences were collected (six biological replicates for each stage).

The same samples were used for transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses to ensure one-to-one correspondence between the two omics datasets. twigs from the four developmental stages and inflorescences were collected. The developmental stages of the twigs were sequentially designated as Y, S, T, and F (from the youngest to the fourth stage), while the inflorescences were designated as FL. Morphologically, Y twigs were soft, brittle, and yellow-green, with incompletely expanded leaves; S twigs were flexible and non-lignified with fully expanded but immature light-green leaves; T twigs were lignified with green stem surface and dark-green leaves at the transitionally mature stage; and F twigs were fully lignified with whitish stem surfaces and mature yellow-green leaves indicative of early senescence.