Profiling of the Major Phenolic Compounds and Their Biosynthesis Genes in Sophora flavescens Aiton.

Jeongyeo Lee,Dae-Soo Kim,Jaeeun Jung,Sang Un Park,Kun-Hyang Park,Hyun-Bi Kim,Hyeong-Kyu Lee,Hyeran Kim,Haeng-Soon Lee,Young-Hee Noh,Cha Young Kim,Seung-Hyun Son,Hyun-Soon Kim,Sung Ran Min

doi:10.1155/2018/6218430

Abstract

Sophorae Radix (Sophora flavescens Aiton) has long been used in traditional medicine in East Asia due to the various biological activities of its secondary metabolites. Endogenous contents of phenolic compounds (phenolic acid, flavonol, and isoflavone) and the main bioactive compounds of Sophorae Radix were analyzed based on the qualitative HPLC analysis and evaluated in different organs and at different developmental stages. In total, 11 compounds were detected, and the composition of the roots and aerial parts (leaves, stems, and flowers) was significantly different. trans-Cinnamic acid and p-coumaric acid were observed only in the aerial parts. Large amounts of rutin and maackiain were detected in the roots. Four phenolic acid compounds (benzoic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and chlorogenic acid) and four flavonol compounds (kaempferol, catechin hydrate, epicatechin, and rutin) were higher in aerial parts than in roots. To identify putative genes involved in phenolic compounds biosynthesis, a total of 41 transcripts were investigated. Expression patterns of these selected genes, as well as the multiple isoforms for the genes, varied by organ and developmental stage, implying that they are involved in the biosynthesis of various phenolic compounds both spatially and temporally.

Highlights

Sophorae Radix (Sophora flavescens Aiton) belongs to the Fabaceae family and is widely distributed in Asia and some European countries [1]
11 compounds were detected in Sophorae Radix: 6 phenolic acids (t-cinnamic acid, benzoic acid, pcoumaric acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, and chlorogenic acid), 4 flavonols, and 1 isoflavone (Figure 1(b) and Supplementary Table 1)
The isoflavone maackiain was detected in the roots at high levels (218.17 ± 22.04 μg/g dry wt.) and in the large leaves (23.59 ± 5.14 μg/g dry wt.). 32 phenolic compounds from the stems and leaves of Sophorae Radix by metabolite profiling and demonstrated that the composition of the roots and the aerial parts were significantly different [33]

Summary

Introduction

Sophorae Radix (Sophora flavescens Aiton) belongs to the Fabaceae family and is widely distributed in Asia (especially in Korea, China, Japan, and India) and some European countries [1]. The 27 alkaloids have been isolated and identified from the roots, and another 20 alkaloids have been reported from the aerial parts, flowers, and seeds of Sophorae Radix [1] The alkaloid components, such as matrine, oxymatrine, sophocarpine, and sophoridine, are rare in the plant kingdom and are largely found in Sophora species [7]. They have various pharmacological effects, including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, antiarrhythmia, antihepatitis, and regulation of the immune system [8,9,10,11]

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