Abstract
BackgroundKorean ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) is a highly effective medicinal plant containing ginsenosides with various pharmacological activities, whose roots are produced commercially for crude drugs.ResultsHere, we used the Illumina platform to generate over 232 million RNA sequencing reads from four root samples, including whole roots from one-year-old plants and three types of root tissue from six-year-old plants (i.e., main root bodies, rhizomes, and lateral roots). Through de novo assembly and reference-assisted selection, we obtained a non-redundant unigene set consisting of 55,949 transcripts with an average length of 1,250 bp. Among transcripts in the unigene set, 94 % were functionally annotated via similarity searches against protein databases. Approximately 28.6 % of the transcripts represent novel gene sequences that have not previously been reported for P. ginseng. Digital expression profiling revealed 364 genes showing differential expression patterns among the four root samples. Additionally, 32 were uniquely expressed in one-year-old roots, while seven were uniquely expressed in six-year-old root tissues. We identified 38 transcripts encoding enzymes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis pathways and 189 encoding UDP-glycosyltransferases.ConclusionOur analysis provides new insights into the role of the root transcriptome in development and secondary metabolite biosynthesis in P. ginseng.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-015-0527-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The transcriptome data generated in this study provides new insights into the development of P. ginseng roots, as well as ginsenoside biosynthesis
All raw sequencing reads were deposited into the sequencing read archive (SRA) of NCBI
The results indicate that our transcriptome data include many P. ginseng genes beyond those reported in this plant species to date, even though our data were generated only from root tissues
Summary
There are two main classes of ginsenosides (based on the skeletons of their aglycones), namely, the dammarane type and the oleanane type. Due to these ginsenosides, Because of its commercial and medicinal importance, various genetic and genomic studies of P. ginseng have been performed [1, 2, 10, 11]. Ginsenosides are biosynthesized in most ginseng tissues, including leaves, and berries, roots have one of the highest contents of ginsenosides and have been used as a main ingredient in traditional medicines for over 2,000 years [6, 9, 19].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
