Abstract
Lonicera macranthoides Hand.-Mazz (L. macranthoides) is a medicinal herb that is widely distributed in South China. The developmental stage and corolla dehiscence of the flower are the important factors affecting the quality of medicinal ingredients. However, neither the regulatory mechanism controlling chlorogenic acids biosynthesis in L. macranthoides nor the molecular basis of effect of corolla dehiscence on the quality of medicinal materials is fully understood. In this study, metabolomics and transcriptomics were used to analyze the metabolic and transcriptional differences of two different cultivars closed bud type (Bt), and flowering type (Ft), as well as the effect of jasmonic acid methyl ester (MeJA) on chlorogenic acids (CGAs) biosynthesis. In total, large number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and differentially accumulated metabolites (DAMs) were filtered among three lines of samples. Gene metabolite correlation analyses revealed a ‘core set’ of 30 genes and 54 genes that were strongly correlated with CGAs biosynthesis and regulating the flowering, respectively. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction results proved the alterations in the expression levels of genes encoding the pathways involved in CGAs biosynthesis. The ion abundances of CGAs were most significantly increased, while some of the CGAs derived and Caffeoyl-CoA-derived substances showed the most largely reduced abundances in the closed bud type (Bt) compared to the flowering type (Ft). MeJA may leads to the activation of downstream genes in CGAs biosynthesis pathway. Overall, there were significant differences in the transcriptional and metabolic levels of CGAs biosynthesis pathway in flower buds of different flowering cultivars. The redirection of metabolic flux may contribute to increased accumulation of CGAs. However, whether MeJA and flowering have direct effects on the accumulation of CGAs needs further studied. These researches effectively expanded the functional genomic library and provide new insights into CGAs biosynthesis in L. macranthoides.
Highlights
IntroductionThe dry floral buds or open flowers are the most important medicinal tissues that have been recorded in the classical pharmacopeia of Chinese traditional medicine “Ming Yi Bie Lu” and “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” [4], which are used for the prevention and treatment of severe acute respiratory syndromes, H1N1 influenza, and hand-foot-and-mouth disease [5, 6]
The flowering type (Ft), closed bud type (Bt) and jasmonic acid methyl ester (MeJA)-treated closed bud type (Bt1000) were used to monitor changes in the metabolite abundance associated with the biosynthesis of active substances in L. macranthoides (Fig 2)
We found that the alterations of Ft compared to Bt were associated with 12 metabolic pathways, including pentose and glucuronate interconversions, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and so on (S7 Table)
Summary
The dry floral buds or open flowers are the most important medicinal tissues that have been recorded in the classical pharmacopeia of Chinese traditional medicine “Ming Yi Bie Lu” and “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” [4], which are used for the prevention and treatment of severe acute respiratory syndromes, H1N1 influenza, and hand-foot-and-mouth disease [5, 6]. A variety of phenolic acids, flavonoids, volatile oils and saponins were detected in the floral buds or flowers of L. macranthoides. They display multiple biological activities, including antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antiangiogenic, antipyretic, hepatoprotective and antitumor effects [6,7,8,9,10,11]
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