School of Life Science, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, Anhui, China.
State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, Anhui, China.
J Agric Food Chem. 2024 Nov 6;72(44):24539-24551. doi: 10.1021/acs.jafc.4c07127. Epub 2024 Oct 23.
Terpenoids are important secondary metabolites in . Rubusoside is a relatively specific diterpenoid bioactive component in the leaves of Chinese Sweet Tea (). However, the terpenoid anabolic pathway of and the molecular mechanism underlying the specific accumulation of rubusoside in remain unclear. Here, metabolomics and transcriptomics analyses were performed on differences in terpenoid metabolism levels between (sweet leaves) and (bitter leaves). Steviol glycosides and goshonosides primarily accumulated in and , respectively. Three pairs of highly homologous glycosyltransferase genes (, , and ) associated with rubusoside biosynthesis in the two species were identified. The three pairs of UGT proteins in both species could glycosylate steviol. Thus, the transcriptional regulation of in appears to play a pivotal role in rubusoside accumulation. Our findings provide insights into the differences in terpenoid metabolism between and and reveal the molecular mechanism of rubusoside accumulation in .
三萜类化合物是 的重要次生代谢物。毛蕊糖苷是中国甜茶（）叶片中一种相对特异的二萜类生物活性成分。然而， 的三萜类生物合成途径以及毛蕊糖苷在 中特异积累的分子机制尚不清楚。本研究采用代谢组学和转录组学分析方法，研究了 （甜叶）和 （苦叶）之间萜类代谢水平的差异。甜菊糖苷和 goshonosides 主要分别在 和 中积累。在这两个 物种中，鉴定出了与毛蕊糖苷生物合成相关的三对高度同源的糖基转移酶基因（、和）。两个物种中的三对 UGT 蛋白都可以糖基化甜菊醇。因此， 在 中的转录调控似乎在毛蕊糖苷积累中起着关键作用。本研究结果为 和 之间萜类代谢的差异提供了新的见解，并揭示了 中毛蕊糖苷积累的分子机制。
