Abstract
BackgroundPanax notoginseng (Burk.) F. H. Chen (PN) belonging to the genus Panax of family Araliaceae is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various diseases. PN taproot, as the most vital organ for the accumulation of bioactive components, presents a variable morphology (oval or long), even within the same environment. However, no related studies have yet explained the molecular mechanism of phenotypic differences. To investigate the cause of differences in the taproot phenotype, de novo and comparative transcriptomic analysis on PN taproot was performed.ResultsA total of 133,730,886 and 114,761,595 paired-end clean reads were obtained based on high-throughput sequencing from oval and long taproot samples, respectively. 121,955 unigenes with contig N50 = 1,774 bp were generated by using the de novo assembly transcriptome, 63,133 annotations were obtained with the BLAST. And then, 42 genes belong to class III peroxidase (PRX) gene family, 8 genes belong to L-Ascorbate peroxidase (APX) gene family, and 55 genes belong to a series of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) gene family were identified based on integrated annotation results. Differentially expressed genes analysis indicated substantial up-regulation of PnAPX3 and PnPRX45, which are related to reactive oxygen species metabolism, and the PnMPK3 gene, which is related to cell proliferation and plant root development, in long taproots compared with that in oval taproots. Furthermore, the determination results of real-time quantitative PCR, enzyme activity, and H2O2 content verified transcriptomic analysis results.ConclusionThese results collectively demonstrate that reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism and the PnMPK3 gene may play vital roles in regulating the taproot phenotype of PN. This study provides further insights into the genetic mechanisms of phenotypic differences in other species of the genus Panax.
Highlights
differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analysis showed that PnAPX3, PnPRX45, and PnMPK3 genes were significantly up-regulated in LPN compared with in OPN
Many previous studies have demonstrated that the process of reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism is closely related to the proliferation, elongation, and differentiation of plant root cells
It has recently been reported that MPK3 can positively regulate root meristem growth factor 1 (RGF1)-mediated root growth and is indispensable for stem cell maintenance in the shoot apical stem of A. thaliana
Summary
H. Chen (PN) is a perennial herb belonging to the Araliaceae family. PN taproot, as the most vital organ for the accumulation of bioactive components, is a raw material of many. The growth rate of PN is relatively slow in the wild, and even with good field management it takes at least three years to grow and accumulate sufficient bioactive components in its taproots before they can be harvested and used as a medicinal material. H. Chen (PN) belonging to the genus Panax of family Araliaceae is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat various diseases. PN taproot, as the most vital organ for the accumulation of bioactive components, presents a variable morphology (oval or long), even within the same environment. To investigate the cause of differences in the taproot phenotype, de novo and comparative transcriptomic analysis on PN taproot was performed
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