School of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic University, Wuhan 430023, China.
State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Dao-di Herbs, National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
Molecules. 2024 Oct 18;29(20):4936. doi: 10.3390/molecules29204936.
C. A. Meyer is renowned for its significant therapeutic effects and is commonly used worldwide. Its active ingredients, triterpenoid saponins, show variation in content among different tissues. The tissue-specific distribution of saponins is potentially related to the expression of vital genes in the biosynthesis pathway. In this study, the contents of five saponins (ginsenoside Ro, chikusetsusaponin IV, chikusetsusaponin IVa, ginsenoside Rg1, and ginsenoside Rb1) in three different tissues were determined by HPLC. Transcriptome sequencing analysis identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) involved in triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis, highlighting significant correlations between saponin contents and the expression levels of 10 cytochrome p450 monooxygenase (CYP) and 3 UDP-glycosyltransferase (UGT) genes. Cloning, sequencing, and prokaryotic expression of UGT genes confirmed the molecular weights of UGT proteins. Gene sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis provided preliminary insights into UGT gene functions. Meanwhile, the function of one UGT gene was characterized in the yeast. These findings advance our understanding of the triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis in and support future research in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and synthetic biology.
C. A. Meyer 以其显著的治疗效果而闻名,在全球范围内广泛使用。其活性成分三萜皂苷在不同组织中的含量存在差异。皂苷的组织特异性分布可能与生物合成途径中关键基因的表达有关。在这项研究中,采用高效液相色谱法测定了三种不同组织中五种皂苷(人参皂苷 Ro、远志皂苷 IV、远志皂苷 IVa、人参皂苷 Rg1 和人参皂苷 Rb1)的含量。转录组测序分析鉴定了参与三萜皂苷生物合成的差异表达基因(DEGs),表明皂苷含量与 10 个细胞色素 P450 单加氧酶(CYP)和 3 个 UDP-糖基转移酶(UGT)基因的表达水平之间存在显著相关性。UGT 基因的克隆、测序和原核表达证实了 UGT 蛋白的分子量。基因序列比对和系统发育分析为 UGT 基因功能提供了初步见解。同时,在酵母中对一个 UGT 基因的功能进行了表征。这些发现加深了我们对 三萜皂苷生物合成的理解,为中药(TCM)和合成生物学的未来研究提供了支持。