Panax notoginseng is a commonly used Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and has diverse pharmacological activities with triterpenoid saponins as its main active ingredient. In the cultivation of P. notoginseng, continuous cropping is a serious problem, which could induce reduced productivity, low tuber quality, and plant mortality. With unique advantages of easy control, relative stability, high yields, tissue culture is widely used in the protection of TCM resources. In this study, we screened one adventitious root line, multi-branched (MB) root induced from wild-type roots of P. notoginseng, with a high yield of total triterpenoid saponins (17.92 mg/g). The morphology analysis showed that MB root had structure similar to that of wild-type roots, except for the highly branched phenotype. MB root also showed close gene expression levels and metabolite profiles, which were also similar to those of wild-type roots of Demonstration Park (S3Y). Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis confirmed the importance of key gene, 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGR), and transcription factor, PnERF1, in regulating triterpenoid saponin biosynthesis in P. notoginseng. These results suggested that MB root possesses potential value in the largescale cultivation of P. notoginseng.
KeywordsPanax notoginseng . Adventitious root . Microscopic analysis . Triterpenoid saponins . Gene expression various therapeutic effects, such as anti-tumor, anti-oxidant (Ng 2006), blood circulation promotion (Zhang et al. 2016), and neurological function improvement (Gao et al. 2012). P. notoginseng extract and its active constituents are also widely utilized in food, health products, and cosmetics (Wang et al. 2016). In China, circa 5000 tons of P. notoginseng is consumed annually (Duan et al. 2017;Liu et al. 2014). P. notoginseng, as a perennial plant, has a narrow ecological range mainly in Wenshan, Yunnan province of China (Dong et al. 2018). It is known that continuous cropping is a serious problem in cultivation of P. notoginseng. Continuous cropping has multiple adverse effects on P. notoginseng, such as productivity and tuber quality decrease. In severe cases, continuous cropping will lead to plant death (Hu et al. 2011;Liu et al. 2011). Crop r o t a t i o n i s a n e ff e c t i v e m e t h o d f o r r e p l a n t i n g P. notoginseng; however, it needs 8 years or more (Ma et al. 2006). Nowadays, arable soils for cultivation of P. notoginseng are becoming scarce (Dong et al. 2018). In addition, the region of origin (Guan et al. 2007), harvest time (Xia et al. 2017), and processing (Yu et al. 2013) are also influential on the quality of P. notoginseng.