Abstract
The phytohormone methyl jasmonate (MeJA) has been successfully used as an effective elicitor to enhance production of stilbenoid which is induced in plants as a secondary metabolite possibly in defense against herbivores and pathogens. However, the mechanism of MeJA-mediated stilbenoid biosynthesis remains unclear. Genomic information for Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (P. multiflorum) is currently unavailable. To obtain insight into the global regulation mechanism of MeJA in the steady state of stilbene glucoside production (26 h after MeJA elicitation), especially on stilbene glucoside biosynthesis, we sequenced the transcriptomes of MeJA-treated and untreated P. multiflorum roots and obtained more than 51 million clean reads, from which 79,565 unigenes were obtained by de novo assembly. 56,972 unigenes were annotated against databases including Nr, Nt, Swiss-Prot, KEGG and COG. 18,677 genes expressed differentially between untreated and treated roots. Expression level analysis indicated that a large number of genes were associated with plant–pathogen interaction, plant hormone signal transduction, stilbenoid backbone biosynthesis, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. 15 known genes involved in the biosynthesis of stilbenoid backbone were found with 7 genes showing increased transcript abundance following elicitation of MeJA. The significantly up (down)-regulated changes of 70 genes in stilbenoid biosynthesis were validated by qRT-PCR assays and PCR product sequencing. According to the expression changes and the previously proposed enzyme functions, multiple candidates for the unknown steps in stilbene glucoside biosynthesis were identified. We also found some genes putatively involved in the transcription factors. This comprehensive description of gene expression information could greatly facilitate our understanding of the molecular mechanisms of MeJA-mediated stilbenoid biosynthesis in P. multiflorum roots. Our results shed new light on the global regulation mechanism by which MeJA regulates the physiology of P. multiflorum roots and is helpful to understand how MeJA elicits other plant species besides P. multiflorum.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00438-015-1112-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
The traditional Chinese herb, P. multiflorum, has been used in the preparation of herbal medicines in orientalMol Genet Genomics (2016) 291:337–348 countries such as China, Japan and Korea for thousands of years because of its pharmacological functions (Jung et al 2011; Luo et al 2011)
Control and treatment samples were analyzed by Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), we found that the “plant–pathogen interaction”, “plant hormone signal transduction” and “endocytosis” had the most significant changes. 8936 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were annotated by KEGG, and this annotation revealed significant enrichment for genes found in metabolic pathways (2441 DEGs, 27.32 %), biosynthesis of secondary metabolites (1079 DEGs, 12.07 %), and Ribosome (644 DEGs, 7.21 %)
It was found that P. multiflorum roots at 26 h after methyl jasmonate (MeJA) elicitation were characterized by mRNA levels and genes involved in stilbenoid synthesis were found, which was consistent with the results reported in Vitis vinifera cell, Vitis vinifera cv
Summary
The traditional Chinese herb, P. multiflorum, has been used in the preparation of herbal medicines in orientalMol Genet Genomics (2016) 291:337–348 countries such as China, Japan and Korea for thousands of years because of its pharmacological functions (Jung et al 2011; Luo et al 2011). Stilbene glucoside was mainly extracted from the root of P. multiflorum but yields are low; approximately 1.5 % of the dry root weight (Jung et al 2011). Great efforts have been taken to increase the production of stilbene glucoside using biotransformation (Yan et al 2007) and micropropagation (Lin et al 2003) which currently suffers from low yields. Some compounds are known to stimulate the production of stilbenoid when added to the medium. MeJA has been found to significantly elicit the production of stilbenoid in the cultured cells of grapevine (Jeandet et al 2002; Vannozzi et al 2012; Vezzulli et al 2007). The detailed biological mechanism of MeJA stimulation of stilbenoid production and concomitant transcriptome changes associated with response to MeJA remain poorly understood. A detailed knowledge of the biosynthesis of stilbene glucoside and its regulation by MeJA is required before directed bioengineering
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