(293) The PAL Gene Activity in Five Rosemary Genotypes and Its Effect on the Production of Rosmarinic Acid

Abstract

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) enzyme is the most extensively studied enzyme in the phenylpropanoid pathway. Studies on the biosynthesis of rosmarinic acid (RA) showed that the PAL enzyme catalyzes the initial step of the phenylpropanoid pathway. The increase in RA content in plant tissues in vitro coincided with the increase in PAL activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the activity of the gene responsible for the production of the PAL enzyme in the five rosemary genotypes; this will give more understanding about the accumulation of rosmarinic acid in the five rosemary genotypes. The genotypes were Majorca, Rosmarinus officinalis, Pine Scented, Madeline Hill and APR. Northern blot hybridization between the PAL gene primer and the five genotypes' cDNA showed bands at 300 bp in all the five genotypes for the PAL gene. The expression of the PAL gene was high in genotypes Majorca, Rosmarinus officinalis, and Madeline Hill, while the expression was low in genotypes Pine Scented and APR. It was expected that the genotypes having the highest PAL gene expression will produce the highest amount of RA, but the highest genotype in PAL gene expression Madeline Hill had the lowest RA production in their leaves. This could occur due to the tissue specific regulation inside plant tissues. Inside the callus tissues, where the specific tissue regulation no longer exists, the RA was produced in repetitively large amounts in genotypes with high PAL gene expression.