Molecular characterization of carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases and the effect of gibberellin, abscisic acid, and sodium chloride on the expression of genes involved in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway and carotenoid accumulation in the callus of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi.

Three cDNAs encoding carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases (SbCCD1, SbCCD4, and SbNCED) were isolated from Scutellaria baicalensis , an important traditional herb in Asia and North America. Amino acid sequence alignments showed that they share high identity and similarity to their orthologs in other plant species. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that SbCCD1 and SbCCD4 were most strongly expressed in flowers, whereas SbNCED was expressed at the highest level in roots. The expression levels of phytoene synthase (SbPSY), phytoene desaturase (SbPDS), ξ-carotene desaturase (SbZDS), β-ring carotene hydroxylase (SbCHXB), zeaxanthin epoxidase (SbZEP), SbCCD1, SbCCD4, and SbNCED in the callus of S. baicalensis varied under different concentrations of gibberellic acid (GA3) and abscisic acid (ABA). Under NaCl treatment, expression levels of all genes increased with increasing NaCl concentrations. Except for zeaxanthin, increasing GA3, ABA, and NaCl concentrations caused higher losses in the total carotenoid content. The total carotenoid content substantially decreased with increasing GA3, ABA, and NaCl concentrations, with the biggest reductions observed in the NaCl treatment. The isolation and characterization of SbCCD1, SbCCD4, and SbNCED together with the study on the effect of GA3, ABA, and NaCl on carotenoid biosynthesis will be helpful to elucidate the carotenoid biosynthesis mechanism in S. baicalensis and may set new trends in metabolic engineering of carotenoids in plants.