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Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seeds are important legume crops and an important source of dietary proteins and carbohydrates. Therefore, it is important to develop strategies to improve salt tolerance in common beans. In this study, transcriptome and metabolome analyses were conducted on local common bean variety under salt stress at the sprout stage for a period of 0, 12, and 24 h. Results showed that phenylpropanoid pathways (including phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and phenylalanine metabolism) and flavonoid pathways (including flavonoid biosynthesis and flavone and flavonol biosynthesis) played an important role in controlling responses to salt stress as evidenced by analysis of differentially expression genes, common expression patterns, WCGNA, and differentially altered metabolites (DAMs) analyses. In addition, exploration of the activities of 4‐coumarate‐CoA ligase (4CL), caffeoyl‐CoA O‐methyltransferase (CCoAOMT), peroxidase (POD), chalcone isomerase (CHI), dihydroflavonol‐4‐reductase (DFR), and flavonol synthase (FLS) further showed that phenylpropanoid and flavonoid pathways participate in plant responses to salt stress. Moreover, the phenylpropanoid pathways and flavonoid pathways were found to be potential pathways regulating plant response to salt stress based on transcriptome and metabolome analysis. The activities of 4CL, CCoAOMT, POD, CHI, DFR, and FLS revealed that these pathways are crucial to the regulation of plant responses to salt stress. These findings provided theoretical basis for further improvement of salt tolerance in common bean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Salt stress is an important factor restricting crop growth. Thus, genes related to plant responses to high salinity at the sprout stage of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) should be identified and characterized. In this study, on the basis of the common bean germination index, 0.4% NaCl and day 5 of the incubation period were selected as the optimal salt concentration and sampling time, respectively. Salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive plant materials suitable for the local region were selected as representative common bean materials with contrasting salt-related phenotypes. A total of 441 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by analyzing the generated RNA-seq data. The enriched Gene Ontology terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways indicated the DEGs were associated with oxidoreductase activities and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Furthermore, the superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase activities and the lignin content, which are related to oxidoreductase activities and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, were revealed to be significantly associated with common bean salt tolerance. The six DEGs with salt tolerance-related Arabidopsis thaliana homologs may be important candidate genes mediating the salt stress responses of common bean during the sprout stage. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.1954091. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]