Genomic-Wide Identification and Characterization of the Uridine Diphosphate Glycosyltransferase Family in Eucommia ulmoides Oliver

Abstract

Eucommia ulmoides Oliver is a woody plant with great economic and medicinal value. Its dried bark has a long history of use as a traditional medicinal material in East Asia, which led to many glycosides, such as aucubin, geniposide, hyperoside, astragalin, and pinoresinol diglucoside, being recognized as pharmacologically active ingredients. Uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferases (UGTs) catalyze a glycosyl-transferring reaction from the donor molecule uridine-5′-diphosphate-glucose (UDPG) to the substrate, which plays an important role in many biological processes, such as plant growth and development, secondary metabolism, and environmental adaptation. In order to explore the biosynthetic pathways of glycosides in E. ulmoides, 91 putative EuUGT genes were identified throughout the complete genome of E. ulmoides through function annotation and an UDPGT domain search. Phylogenetic analysis categorized them into 14 groups. We also performed GO annotations on all the EuUGTs to gain insights into their functions in E. ulmoides. In addition, transcriptomic analysis indicated that most EuUGTs showed different expression patterns across diverse organs and various growing seasons. By protein–protein interaction predication, a biosynthetic routine of flavonoids and their glycosides was also proposed. Undoubtedly, these results will help in future research into the biosynthetic pathways of glycoside compounds in E. ulmoides.

Genome-Wide Evolutionary Analysis of Putative Non-Specific Herbicide Resistance Genes and Compilation of Core Promoters between Monocots and Dicots

“…Interestingly, UGT703A5 monocot and dicot fall in different clades, indicating structural differences between them. Although there is little protein similarity among the UDPGT families, the protein structure appears to be conserved similarly to an earlier report [ 84 ]. Lastly, in NMO phylogenetic analysis, we found that monocots and dicots are clearly grouped into different clades, and monocot NMOs were further subdivided into two groups.…”

Genome Wide Analysis of Family-1 UDP Glycosyltransferases in Populus trichocarpa Specifies Abiotic Stress Responsive Glycosylation Mechanisms

“…The phylogenetic tree was visualized using the iTOL website ( accessed on 5 February 2022). To compare the phylogenetic groups of putative UGTs in Populus , we collected published data on the number of putative UGTs and the number of phylogenic groups including Prunus persica , Malus domestica , Vitis vinifera , Linum usitatissimum , G. max , Glycine soja , G. hirsutum , Gossypium raimondii and Gossypium arboreum [ 12 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ].…”

“…Using this PSPG motif as a search tool, 107 putative UGT genes were identified in the Arabidopsis thaliana genome [ 17 ]. Subsequently, putative UGT genes have been identified in other plants, including Prunus persica (168 genes), Malus domestica (254), Vitis vinifera (184), Linum usitatissimum (138), Glycine max (148), Zea mays (148), Glycine soja (128), Gossypium hirsutum (274), Eucommia ulmoides (91), Apple (237), Quercus robur (244), Vitis vinifera (257), Oryza sativa (41) Camellia sinensis and Triticum aestivum (179) [ 12 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. A 40% amino acid similarity can be found among the UGTs, whereas 60% or greater similarity has been observed within subfamilies [ 13 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Network Pharmacology-Based Prediction and Verification of the Potential Targets of Pinoresinol Diglucoside for OA Treatment

“…A clinical trial also provided evidence of the efficacy and safety of its extract as OA treatment [ 11 ]. Pinoresinol diglucoside (PDG), a lignanoid, is the main active compound of E. ulmoides Oliver [ 12 ]; however, its therapeutic effects on OA have not been reported. This research utilized network pharmacology to investigate the potential role and related mechanism of PDG in OA treatment.…”