Wang Qiaoxue, Long Huan, Liu Shumeng, Xu Xixi, Zhang Qin, Yi Shanyong
School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacy, Zhongda Hospital, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210009, China.
Department of Pharmacy, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210029, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 7;15(1):1059. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-85266-x.
Orthosiphon aristatus (O. aristatus) has been used as a popular traditional folk medicine for the treatment of kidney disease. Recent studies have shown that O. aristatus root contains more flavonoids and has higher antioxidant capacity compared to its medicinal parts. However, there is limited knowledge on the mechanisms behind the synthetic biology of flavonoid in all tissues of O. aristatus. Here, we performed high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis and comparative transcriptome analyses of flavonoids in all tissues. The content of 4 major flavonoids is significantly higher in roots and leaves compared to stems in O. aristatus. Out of a total of 138,294 Unigenes, the KEGG pathway analysis identified 66 Unigenes encoding 8 key metabolic enzymes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of flavonoid compounds. Additionally, 5,154 on average DEGs involved in flavonoid biosynthesis could be categorised into 58 transcription factor (TF) families. Among the identified DEGs, a total of 5,897 were common to all tissues, with 212 DEGs strongly associated with flavonoid accumulation in root. Several of these key enzyme genes were further validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Our research provides novel insights into flavonoids synthetic biology, and highlights O. aristatus root may serve as a valuable resource for medicinal use.
肾茶已被用作治疗肾脏疾病的一种流行的传统民间药物。最近的研究表明，与肾茶的药用部位相比，其根部含有更多的黄酮类化合物，并且具有更高的抗氧化能力。然而，关于肾茶所有组织中黄酮类化合物合成生物学背后的机制，我们了解得还很有限。在此，我们对肾茶所有组织中的黄酮类化合物进行了高效液相色谱（HPLC）分析和比较转录组分析。肾茶中4种主要黄酮类化合物的含量在根和叶中显著高于茎。在总共138,294个单基因中，KEGG通路分析鉴定出66个单基因，它们编码参与黄酮类化合物生物合成途径的8种关键代谢酶。此外，平均5154个参与黄酮类生物合成的差异表达基因（DEGs）可分为58个转录因子（TF）家族。在鉴定出的DEGs中，共有5897个在所有组织中都存在，其中212个DEGs与根中黄酮类化合物的积累密切相关。其中几个关键酶基因通过定量实时聚合酶链反应（qRT-PCR）进一步得到验证。我们的研究为黄酮类化合物的合成生物学提供了新的见解，并突出表明肾茶根可能是一种有价值的药用资源。
