Transcriptomics comparison reveals the diversity of ethylene and methyl-jasmonate in roles of TIA metabolism in Catharanthus roseus

Abstract

BackgroundThe medicinal plant, Catharanthus roseus (C. roseus), accumulates a wide range of terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs). Ethylene (ET) and methyl-jasmonate (MeJA) were previously reported as effective elicitors for the production of various valuable secondary metabolites of C. roseus, while a few ET or MeJA induced transcriptomic research is yet reported on this species. In this study, the de-novo transcriptome assembly of C. roseus is performed by using the next-generation sequencing technology.ResultsThe result shows that phenolic biosynthesis genes respond specifically to ET in leaves, monoterpenoid biosynthesis genes respond specifically to MeJA in roots. By screening the database, 23 ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter partial sequences are identified in C. roseus. On this basis, more than 80 key genes that encode key enzymes (namely TIA pathway, transcriptional factor (TF) and candidate ABC transporter) of alkaloid synthesis in TIA biosynthetic pathways are chosen to explore the integrative responses to ET and MeJA at the transcriptional level. Our data indicated that TIA accumulation is strictly regulated by the TF ethylene responsive factor (ERF) and bHLH iridoid synthesis 1 (BIS1). The heatmap, combined with principal component analysis (PCA) of C. roseus, shows that ERF co-expression with ABC2 and ABC8 specific expression in roots affect the root-specific accumulation of vinblastine in C. roseus. On the contrast, BIS1 activities follow a similar pattern of ABC3 and CrTPT2 specific expression in leaves, which affects the leaf-specific accumulation of vindoline in C. roseus.ConclusionsResults presented above illustrate that ethylene has a stronger effect than MeJA on TIA induction at both transcriptional and metabolite level. Furthermore, meta-analysis reveals that ERF and BIS1 form a positive feedback loop connecting two ABC transporters respectively and are actively involved in TIAs responding to ET and MeJA in C. roseus.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-4879-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Metabolomics analysis reveals both plant variety and choice of hormone treatment modulate vinca alkaloid production in Catharanthus roseus

“…It is interesting to note that our results for key enzymes from these pathways (DXS2 in MEP and HMGS in MVA) in roots and shoots treated through foliar application of the phytohormones show different induction patterns than were observed in Pan et al. (2018) and Zhang et al. (2018), where treatments were applied to entire seedlings via hydroponic supplementation.…”

“…Many different cultivars of C. roseus have been developed for ornamental uses and, of these, some have also been evaluated for their utility in alkaloid production. Among these genetically diverse varieties, however, only a few have been selected for genomic and transcriptomic resource development (Góngora‐Castillo et al., 2012; Kellner et al., 2015; Pan et al., 2018; Verma, Ghangal, Sharma, Sinha, & Jain, 2014). “Little Bright Eye” (LBE) is a variety that has been commonly used for plant pathology research and was used in the initial efforts to identify the TIA biosynthetic genes.…”

“…“Little Bright Eye” (LBE) is a variety that has been commonly used for plant pathology research and was used in the initial efforts to identify the TIA biosynthetic genes. More recently, other varieties have been investigated in transcriptional and metabolomic studies (Góngora‐Castillo et al., 2012; Kellner et al., 2015; Pan et al., 2018; Verma et al., 2014). “SunStorm Apricot” (SSA) was developed for horticultural use and recently was selected for genome sequencing (Kellner et al., 2015); it remains the only sequenced C. roseus variety to date.…”

Comparative Analysis and Expression Patterns of the PLP_deC Genes in Dendrobium officinale

“…Many studies have suggested that the expression levels of PLP_deC genes are also influenced by abiotic and biotic stresses [28][29][30]. Furthermore, plant hormones such as ABA, SA, and ethylene also modulate the expression of these genes [17,29,30].…”

croFGD: Catharanthus roseus Functional Genomics Database

“…JAZ1, a jasmonate-zim-domain protein, was discovered as repressors of jasmonate signaling, which was involved in TIA biosynthesis (Pan et al, 2018). We conducted network comparison between global network and tissue-preferential network of JAZ1 (Figure 4A).…”