Comparative transcriptome analysis of root, stem, and leaf tissues of Entada phaseoloides reveals potential genes involved in triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis

Abstract

Background Entada phaseoloides (L.) Merr. is an important traditional medicinal plant. The stem of Entada phaseoloides is popularly used as traditional medicine because of its significance in dispelling wind and dampness and remarkable anti-inflammatory activities. Triterpenoid saponins are the major bioactive compounds of Entada phaseoloides. However, genomic or transcriptomic technologies have not been used to study the triterpenoid saponin biosynthetic pathway in this plant. Results We performed comparative transcriptome analysis of the root, stem, and leaf tissues of Entada phaseoloides with three independent biological replicates and obtained a total of 53.26 Gb clean data and 116,910 unigenes, with an average N50 length of 1218 bp. Putative functions could be annotated to 42,191 unigenes (36.1%) based on BLASTx searches against the Non-redundant, Uniprot, KEGG, Pfam, GO, KEGG and COG databases. Most of the unigenes related to triterpenoid saponin backbone biosynthesis were specifically upregulated in the stem. A total of 26 cytochrome P450 and 17 uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferase candidate genes related to triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis were identified. The differential expressions of selected genes were further verified by qPT-PCR. Conclusions The dataset reported here will facilitate the research about the functional genomics of triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis and genetic engineering of Entada phaseoloides.

Triterpenoids Biosynthesis Regulation for Leaf Coloring of Wheel Wingnut (Cyclocaryapaliurus)

“…Even so, CYP736A (14 unigenes) and CYP734A1 (6 unigenes) showed significant up-regulation in the A stage compared to the C stage. UDP-glucosyltransferase is also considered a regulated factor in triterpenoid biosynthesis [11][12][13]. According to our analysis, related UGT unigenes were also identified including UDP-glucosyltransferase 73C (5 unigenes), UDP-glucosyltransferase 75B1 (2 unigenes), UDP-glucosyltransferase 73B2 (2 unigenes), cyanohydrin UDP-glucosyltransferase-UGT85K (3 unigenes), and UDP-glucosyltransferase 85A (1 unigenes).…”

“…Kuntze, and Entada phaseoloides (L.) Merr. [11][12][13], and the structure gene expression patterns between species were different. Our research found triterpenoids content in old green leaves than red new leaves, and this was associated with the MVA (HMGS and HMGR) pathway instead of the MEP pathway.…”

“…According to the transcriptome and metabolome analysis, we constructed the triterpenoid biosynthesis pathway to uncover the mechanism regulating triterpenoids accumulation during leaf development of LC1 [11][12][13]. In Figure 3, structure genes showed significant expression differences; most detected structure genes showed a random regulating trend except HMGS (hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase), HMGR (hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase), and FPPS (farnesyl-diphosphate synthase).…”

“…Therefore, comprehensive and systematic studies are needed for analyzing the total triterpenoids and triterpenoid variation pattern in leave coloring stages. Transcriptomic and metabolomic methods have helped progress the analysis of plant tissue metabolites dynamics [11][12][13]. Screening and selection of plant evaluation are directly dependent on differences in chemical composition, metabonomics method (which has unique advantages in the evaluation of medicinal plants for testing multiple ingredients at the same time) [14], comprehensive testing data [13], directly fitting the metabolic pathway, and conducting association analysis with transcriptomic results [12].…”

Research Progress and Future Development Trends in Medicinal Plant Transcriptomics

“…Triterpene saponins are the primary biologically active compounds in E. phaseoloides. Liao et al (2020) conducted comparative transcriptome analysis of the root, stem, and leaf tissues of E. phaseoloides and identified 26 cytochrome P450 and 17 uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferase candidate genes related to triterpene saponin biosynthesis. The findings contributed to investigations on the functional genomics of triterpene saponin biosynthesis.…”