Abstract
Alliinase is the key enzyme in allicin biosynthesis pathway. In the current study, the identification and sequencing of alliinase genes along with determination of allicin contents were reported for Allium species with a novel report for Iranian endemic species. The presence of different isoforms in the Allium being discovered for the first time. In bulbs tissue, the highest allicin concentration was in Allium sativum, A. umbilicatum, and A. fistolosum (1.185%, 0.367%, and 0.34%, respectively), followed by A. spititatum (0.072%), A. lenkoranicum (0.055%), A. atroviolaseum (0.36%), A. rubellum (0.041%), and A. stamineum (0.007%). The highest allicin content in the leaves and roots were in A. sativum (0.13%), and A. stamineum (0.195%), respectively. The ORFs length ranged from 1416 in A. sativum (iso-alliinase2; ISA2) to 1523 bp in A. sativum (alliinase); the identity with A. sativum (alliinase) varies from 95% to 68% for A. ampeloprasum, and A. sativum (iso-alliinase1, ISA1) respectively. These data suggested that both ISA1 and ISA2 had a high expression in the roots and bulbs compared to A. sativum as the control in all species. Note that ISA1 and ISA2 were not expressed in the leaves. The results showed that isoforms expression patterns among different tissues in Allium species were variable. The presence of various isoforms is a possible explanation for the difference between the species in terms of obtained results, especially the amount of allicin.
Highlights
Allium L. is one of the largest genera in the family of the Amaryllidaceae, encompassing over 900 species [1,2]
A fragment of approximately 1500 bp of the alliinase gene was successfully amplified with the new primers, using cDNA as template
The G+C content of the analyzed alliinase genes ranged from 39.3% to 43.5%
Summary
Allium L. is one of the largest genera in the family of the Amaryllidaceae, encompassing over 900 species [1,2]. Identification of alliinase isoform genes and determination of allicin contents in Allium species endemics, grow in Iran [8]. The flavor of freshly chopped Allium species, such as garlic, is due to the alliin lyase enzyme activity ( known as alliinase or S-alk(en)yl-L-cysteine sulfoxide lyase). Information obtained using sequencing as the base for the phylogenetic analysis, allows scholars to identify changes in genes. It can enrich our understanding of how genes and species evolve. Alliinase genes have been identified and sequenced, and the allicin contents have been determined for Allium species with a novel report for Iranian endemic species. The presence of different isoforms in the Allium has been discovered for the first time
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