Key Laboratory of Quality Evaluation of Chinese Medicine of the Guangdong Provincial Medical Products Administration, the Second Clinical College, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
Artemisinin Research Center, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China.
BMC Genomics. 2023 Nov 18;24(1):692. doi: 10.1186/s12864-023-09786-4.
Artemisia annua is the major source for artemisinin production. The artemisinin content in A. annua is affected by different types of light especially the UV light. UVR8, a member of RCC1 gene family was found to be the UV-B receptor in plants. The gene structures, evolutionary history and expression profile of UVR8 or RCC1 genes remain undiscovered in A. annua.
Twenty-two RCC1 genes (AaRCC1) were identified in each haplotype genome of two diploid strains of A. annua, LQ-9 and HAN1. Varied gene structures and sequences among paralogs were observed. The divergence of most RCC1 genes occurred at 46.7 - 51 MYA which overlapped with species divergence of core Asteraceae during the Eocene, while no recent novel RCC1 members were found in A. annua genome. The number of RCC1 genes remained stable among eudicots and RCC1 genes underwent purifying selection. The expression profile of AaRCC1 is analogous to that of Arabidopsis thaliana (AtRCC1) when responding to environmental stress.
This study provided a comprehensive characterization of the AaRCC1 gene family and suggested that RCC1 genes were conserved in gene number, structures, constitution of amino acids and expression profiles among eudicots.
青蒿是青蒿素生产的主要来源。青蒿素的含量受不同类型光的影响，尤其是紫外线。UVR8 是 RCC1 基因家族的一员，被发现是植物中 UV-B 的受体。在青蒿中，UVR8 或 RCC1 基因的基因结构、进化历史和表达谱仍然未知。
在青蒿的两个二倍体品系 LQ-9 和 HAN1 的每个单倍型基因组中，鉴定出了 22 个 RCC1 基因（AaRCC1）。观察到了同源基因之间不同的基因结构和序列。大多数 RCC1 基因的分化发生在 46.7-51 MYA，与始新世核心菊科的物种分化重叠，而在青蒿基因组中没有发现新的 RCC1 成员。RCC1 基因在真双子叶植物中的数量保持稳定，并且 RCC1 基因经历了纯化选择。当响应环境胁迫时，AaRCC1 的表达谱与拟南芥（AtRCC1）的表达谱相似。
本研究全面描述了 AaRCC1 基因家族，并表明 RCC1 基因在基因数量、结构、氨基酸组成和真双子叶植物的表达谱方面是保守的。
