Haikou Provincial Key Laboratory of Resources Conservation and Development of Southern Medicine, Haikou Branch of the Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Haikou, China.
Hainan Key Laboratory of Tropical Oil Crops Biology/Coconut Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Wenchang, China.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 30;15(11):e0242776. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242776. eCollection 2020.
For more than a thousand years, Rhizoma Curcumae (known as E zhu), a Chinese herbal medicine, has been used to eradicate blood stasis and relieve aches. The plant Curcuma wenyujin, which is grown primarily in Wenzhou, China, is considered the best source of Rhizoma Curcumae. In this study, we sought to ascertain differences in transcript profiles of C. wenyujin grown in traditional (Wenzhou) and recently established (Haikou) production areas based on Illumina and RNA (RNA-seq) sequencing. We also examined differences in the main components of the volatile oil terpene; curcumin, polysaccharide, and starch constituents and related genes in the corresponding pathways, in C. wenyujin cultivated in the two production areas. We accordingly found that the essential oil (2.05%), curcumin (1.46%), and polysaccharide (8.90%) content in Wenzhou rhizomes was higher than that in the rhizomes of plants from Haikou (1.60%, 0.91%, and 6.15%, respectively). In contrast, the starch content of Wenzhou rhizomes (17.0%) was lower than that of Haikou rhizomes (23.8%). Furthermore, we detected significant differences in the oil components of Haikou and Wenzhou rhizomes, with curzerene (32.34%), curdione (21.35%), and germacrene B (9.39%) being the primary components of the essential oil derived from Wenzhou rhizomes, and curzerene (20.13%), curdione (14.73%), and cineole (9.76%) being the main constituents in Haikou rhizomes. Transcriptome and qPCR analyses revealed considerable differences in gene expression between Wenzhou and Haikou rhizomes. The expression of terpene, curcumin, and polysaccharide pathway-related genes in Wenzhou rhizomes was significantly up-regulated, whereas the expression of starch-associated genes was significantly down-regulated, compared with those in Haikou rhizomes. Difference in the content of terpene, curcumin, polysaccharides, and starch in rhizomes from the two production areas could be explained in terms of differences in expression of the related genes.
一千多年来，莪术根茎（俗称莪术）一直被用作活血化瘀。在中国温州种植的莪术 Curcuma wenyujin 被认为是莪术根茎的最佳来源。在这项研究中，我们试图根据 Illumina 和 RNA（RNA-seq）测序，确定传统（温州）和最近建立的（海口）生产区种植的莪术 C. wenyujin 的转录谱差异。我们还研究了两个生产区莪术中挥发性油萜的主要成分、姜黄素、多糖和淀粉成分以及相关途径的差异。因此，我们发现温州根茎的精油（2.05%）、姜黄素（1.46%）和多糖（8.90%）含量高于海口根茎（分别为 1.60%、0.91%和 6.15%）。相比之下，温州根茎的淀粉含量（17.0%）低于海口根茎（23.8%）。此外，我们还检测到海口和温州根茎的油成分存在显著差异，温州根茎的精油主要成分是莪术烯（32.34%）、莪术二酮（21.35%）和倍半萜烯 B（9.39%），而海口根茎的精油主要成分是莪术烯（20.13%）、莪术二酮（14.73%）和桉油精（9.76%）。转录组和 qPCR 分析表明，温州和海口根茎之间的基因表达存在显著差异。与海口根茎相比，温州根茎中萜烯、姜黄素和多糖途径相关基因的表达显著上调，而淀粉相关基因的表达显著下调。两个生产区根茎中萜烯、姜黄素、多糖和淀粉含量的差异可以用相关基因表达的差异来解释。
