Tsusaka Takahiro, Sakurai Miki
Botanical Raw Materials Cultivation Technology Development Department, Tsumura & Co., Ami, Ibaraki, Japan.
PLoS One. 2025 Aug 18;20(8):e0327885. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327885. eCollection 2025.
Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer (Fabaceae), an important medicinal plant widely used in traditional Japanese and Chinese medicine, contains bioactive compounds, such as glycyrrhizin and flavonoids, which exhibit pharmacological activities, including antispasmodic and antitussive effects. Overharvesting has depleted wild populations, making the cultivation of G. uralensis necessary to stabilize its supply; however, the content of bioactive compounds tends to decrease in cultivated plants. In this study, we investigated the genetic inheritance (heritability) of medicinal compound contents in G. uralensis by analyzing clonal lines propagated from stolons. Broad-sense heritability was estimated for seven medicinal compounds using 26 clonal lines, revealing high heritability for glycyrrhizin and several flavonoids. In addition, correlation analyses between seed-derived and stolon-derived roots demonstrated strong genetic inheritance of these compounds. Furthermore, the effects of plant age and cultivation year on compound content were examined. Our results show high correlations between compound content and genotype across plant age (one- and two-year-old plants), suggesting the feasibility of early selection in breeding programs. While environmental variations influenced absolute compound levels, the relative rankings among genotypes remained stable. These results indicate the high heritability of compound contents and the strong effectiveness of selective breeding. We conclude that there is strong potential for selective breeding to enhance the medicinal quality of G. uralensis by targeting high-yielding genotypes with superior compound profiles and that this potential may also apply to the sustainable cultivation of other high-quality medicinal plant resources.
甘草（豆科）是一种重要的药用植物，在传统日本和中药中广泛使用，含有生物活性化合物，如甘草酸和黄酮类化合物，具有药理活性，包括解痉和镇咳作用。过度采挖已使野生种群枯竭，因此有必要种植甘草以稳定其供应；然而，栽培植物中生物活性化合物的含量往往会降低。在本研究中，我们通过分析从匍匐茎繁殖的克隆系，研究了甘草中药用化合物含量的遗传遗传（遗传力）。使用26个克隆系对七种药用化合物进行了广义遗传力估计，结果显示甘草酸和几种黄酮类化合物具有较高的遗传力。此外，对种子来源和匍匐茎来源的根之间的相关性分析表明，这些化合物具有很强的遗传遗传性。此外，还研究了植株年龄和栽培年份对化合物含量的影响。我们的结果表明，在不同植株年龄（一年生和两年生植株）中，化合物含量与基因型之间存在高度相关性，这表明在育种计划中进行早期选择是可行的。虽然环境变异影响了化合物的绝对水平，但基因型之间的相对排名保持稳定。这些结果表明化合物含量具有较高的遗传力，选择性育种具有很强的有效性。我们得出结论，通过选择具有优良化合物谱的高产基因型，选择性育种在提高甘草药用品质方面具有很大潜力，并且这种潜力也可能适用于其他优质药用植物资源的可持续栽培。
