Genomic Characterization of WRKY Transcription Factors Related to Andrographolide Biosynthesis in Andrographis paniculata

Abstract

Andrographolide, which is enriched in the leaves of Andrographis paniculata, has been known as “natural antibiotic” due to its pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant effects. Several key enzymes in andrographolide biosynthetic pathway have been studied since the genome sequences were released, but its regulatory mechanism remains unknown. WRKY transcription factors proteins have been reported to regulate plant secondary metabolism, development as well as biotic and abiotic stresses. Here, WRKY transcription factors related to andrographolide biosynthesis were systematically identified, including sequences alignment, phylogenetic analysis, chromosomal distribution, gene structure, conserved motifs, synteny, alternative splicing event and Gene ontology (GO) annotation. A total of 58 WRKYs were identified in Chuanxinlian genome and phylogenetically classified into three groups. Moreover, nine WRKY genes underwent alternative splicing events. Furthermore, the combination of binding site prediction, gene-specific expression patterns, and phylogenetic analysis suggested that 7 WRKYs (ApWRKY01, ApWRKY08, ApWRKY12, ApWRKY14, ApWRKY19, ApWRKY20, and ApWRKY50) might regulate andrographolide biosynthesis. This study laid a foundation for understanding the regulatory mechanism of andrographolide biosynthesis and the improvement and breeding of Andrographis paniculata varieties.

Functional analysis of Pogostemon cablin farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase gene and its binding transcription factor PcWRKY44 in regulating biosynthesis of patchouli alcohol

“…In Oryza sativa, OsWRKY45 played an important role in the initiation of diterpenoid phytoalexin biosynthesis after inoculation with Magnaporthe oryzae (Akagi et al, 2014). A total of 58 WRKYs were identified in Andrographis paniculata genome, and 7 of them, including ApWRKY01, ApWRKY08, ApWRKY12, ApWRKY14, ApWRKY19, ApWRKY20, and ApWRKY50 may participate in the biosynthesis of andrographolide (Zhang et al, 2020). Overexpression of the WRKY gene may enhance the expression of structural genes and promote accumulation of key secondary metabolites in plants.…”

Transcriptome-wide identification of WRKY transcription factors and their expression profiles in response to methyl jasmonate in Platycodon grandiflorus

“… 60 The WRKY family has been studied in several model plants, cash crops, and medicinal plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana , 61 Sorghum bicolor , 62 Zea mays , 63 Panax ginseng , 29 Isatis tinctoria , 64 and Andrographis paniculata . 65 Our previous studies combined second- and third-generation sequencing technologies to systematically analyze the transcriptomes of different organs of P. grandiflorus . 49 Based on transcriptomic data in P. grandiflorus , 27 PgWRKYs were identified of P. grandiflorus for the first time.…”

“… 19 , 29 , 63 Among these subgroups, IIc had the most members with six PgWRKY genes, accounting for 42.86% of the genes in Group II, which is similar to the results for soybean, Arabidopsis, and Andrographis. 19 , 28 , 65 Rinerson et al 68 proposed four main lineages of WRKY transcription factor families in flowering plants: Group I + IIc, Group IIa + IIb, Group IId + IIe, and Group III, reflecting the evolution pathway of WRKY family members. This was also observed in the P. grandiflorus WRKY gene family.…”

Genome-Wide Identification of MAPK, MAPKK, and MAPKKK Gene Families in Fagopyrum tataricum and Analysis of Their Expression Patterns Under Abiotic Stress

“…TBtools software was used to extract 2000 bp of sequence upstream of each FtMAPK gene as promoter regions ( Zhang et al, 2021 ), which were then submitted to the promoter region sequence PlantCRAE online website ( http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/webtools/plantcare/html/ ) for analysis and visualization of cis- elements.…”