Zhou Jingwen, Liu Rui, Shuai Min, Yan Zhu-Yun, Chen Xin
School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
Key Laboratory of Characteristic Chinese Medicinal Resources in Southwest, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
PeerJ. 2021 Oct 20;9:e12300. doi: 10.7717/peerj.12300. eCollection 2021.
(Labiatae) is an important medicinal plant in traditional Chinese medicine. Tanshinones are one of the main active components of . It has been found that the intraspecific variation of is relatively large and the content of tanshinones in its roots of different varieties is also relatively different. To investigate the molecular mechanisms that responsible for the differences among these varieties, the tanshinones content was determined and comparative transcriptomics analysis was carried out during the tanshinones accumulation stage. A total of 52,216 unigenes were obtained from the transcriptome by RNA sequencing among which 23,369 genes were differentially expressed among different varieties, and 2,016 genes including 18 diterpenoid biosynthesis-related genes were differentially expressed during the tanshinones accumulation stage. Functional categorization of the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) among these varieties revealed that the pathway related to photosynthesis, oxidative phosphorylation, secondary metabolite biosynthesis, diterpenoid biosynthesis, terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, sesquiterpenoid and triterpenoid biosynthesis are the most differentially regulated processes in these varieties. The six tanshinone components in these varieties showed different dynamic changes in tanshinone accumulation stage. In addition, combined with the analysis of the dynamic changes, 277 DEGs (including one dehydrogenase, three CYP450 and 24 transcription factors belonging to 12 transcription factor families) related to the accumulation of tanshinones components were obtained. Furthermore, the KEGG pathway enrichment analysis of these 277 DEGs suggested that there might be an interconnection between the primary metabolic processes, signaling processes and the accumulation of tanshinones components. This study expands the vision of intraspecific variation and gene regulation mechanism of secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways in medicinal plants from the "omics" perspective.
唇形科植物是传统中药中的一种重要药用植物。丹参酮是其主要活性成分之一。研究发现，该植物种内变异相对较大，不同品种根中丹参酮含量也存在较大差异。为探究这些品种间差异的分子机制，在丹参酮积累阶段测定了丹参酮含量并进行了比较转录组学分析。通过RNA测序从转录组中获得了总共52216个单基因，其中23369个基因在不同品种间差异表达，2016个基因（包括18个与二萜生物合成相关的基因）在丹参酮积累阶段差异表达。对这些品种间差异表达基因（DEGs）的功能分类显示，与光合作用、氧化磷酸化、次生代谢物生物合成、二萜生物合成、萜类骨架生物合成、倍半萜和三萜生物合成相关的途径是这些品种中差异调节最显著的过程。这些品种中的六种丹参酮成分在丹参酮积累阶段呈现出不同的动态变化。此外，结合动态变化分析，获得了277个与丹参酮成分积累相关的差异表达基因（包括1个脱氢酶、3个细胞色素P450和属于12个转录因子家族的24个转录因子）。此外，对这277个差异表达基因的KEGG通路富集分析表明，初级代谢过程、信号传导过程与丹参酮成分积累之间可能存在相互联系。本研究从“组学”角度拓展了药用植物种内变异及次生代谢物生物合成途径基因调控机制的视野。
