Zeng Jiangyi, Ma Xiaoling, Li Yuping, Zhou Lijun, Fu Jingxian, Wang Hongxia, Liu Yongliang, Yuan Ling, Wang Ying, Li Yongqing
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China, Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China.
College of Life Science, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou, Jiangxi, 341000, People's Republic of China.
Mol Hortic. 2025 May 6;5(1):32. doi: 10.1186/s43897-025-00144-4.
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play a crucial role in regulating plant growth, stress responses, and specialized metabolism. Licorice, utilized as both food and herbal medicine for millennia, includes Glycyrrhiza inflata as one of its primary medicinal species used globally. This study investigated the regulatory function of HDAC-mediated histone deacetylation in flavonoid biosynthesis in licorice. The research identified nineteen HDACs in the G. inflata genome. Abiotic stresses and plant hormones were found to influence flavonoid compound accumulation, correlating with altered expression patterns of HDAC genes and global histone H3 acetylation (H3ac) levels. Notably, several HDAC inhibitors enhanced flavonoid accumulation in G. inflata. Subsequent RNA-seq analysis revealed that the HDAC inhibitor suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) activated the expression of multiple genes related to flavonoid biosynthesis. ChIP-qPCR demonstrated that SAHA treatment increased the H3ac levels of flavonoid synthesis-related genes. Furthermore, overexpression of GiHDA2b, an HDAC member, decreased, while RNAi of GiHDA2b increased, the levels of expression and H3K18 acetylation of licochalcone A (LCA) biosynthetic genes indicating its negative role in flavonoid biosynthesis. This research provides valuable insights into the regulatory roles of GiHDACs and histone deacetylation in flavonoid biosynthesis in licorice, potentially contributing to improved bioactive compound production in medicinal plants.
组蛋白去乙酰化酶（HDACs）在调节植物生长、应激反应和特殊代谢过程中发挥着关键作用。甘草作为食品和草药已有数千年历史，胀果甘草是其在全球范围内使用的主要药用品种之一。本研究调查了HDAC介导的组蛋白去乙酰化在甘草黄酮生物合成中的调控功能。研究在胀果甘草基因组中鉴定出19个HDACs。发现非生物胁迫和植物激素会影响黄酮类化合物的积累，这与HDAC基因表达模式的改变和整体组蛋白H3乙酰化（H3ac）水平相关。值得注意的是，几种HDAC抑制剂可增强胀果甘草中黄酮类化合物的积累。随后的RNA测序分析表明，HDAC抑制剂辛二酰苯胺异羟肟酸（SAHA）激活了多个与黄酮生物合成相关基因的表达。染色质免疫沉淀定量PCR（ChIP-qPCR）表明，SAHA处理增加了黄酮合成相关基因的H3ac水平。此外，HDAC成员GiHDA2b的过表达降低了光甘草定A（LCA）生物合成基因的表达水平和H3K18乙酰化水平，而GiHDA2b的RNA干扰则增加了这些水平，表示其在黄酮生物合成中起负作用。本研究为GiHDACs和组蛋白去乙酰化在甘草黄酮生物合成中的调控作用提供了有价值的见解，可能有助于提高药用植物中生物活性化合物的产量。
