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Characterization of genes coding phenylalanine ammonia lyase and chalcone synthase in four Pogostemon cablin cultivars

  • Original Papers
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Biologia Plantarum

Abstract

Pogostemon cablin (Blanco) Benth is a medicinal plant rich in terpenoids and flavonoids. Currently, the molecular mechanism of flavonoid biosynthesis in P. cablin remains unclear. In this study, three copies of the phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) gene designated as PcPAL1 — PcPAL3, one copy of the chalcone synthase (CHS) gene referred to as PcCHS, and four copies of the CHS-like gene referred to as PcCHSL1 — PcCHSL4 were isolated from P. cablin. PcPAL1, PcPAL2, and PcPAL3 comprised 2 136, 2 136, and 2 148 bp full-length open reading frames (ORFs) encoding 711, 711, and 715 amino acids, respectively. PcCHS, PcCHSL1, PcCHSL2, PcCHSL3, and PcCHSL4 contained 1 173, 1 176, 1 179, 1 173, and 1 170 bp ORFs encoding 390, 391, 392, 390, and 389 amino acids, respectively. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that PcPAL2 was closer to PcPAL3 than PcPAL1, and that PcCHS was clustered with other plant CHS genes but independently to the PcCHSLs subgroup. A sequence analysis shows that PcCHSLs diverged in functional residues when compared to plant CHSs including PcCHS, suggesting that PcCHSLs may be divergent in tertiary structures. A quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis indicates that the expression profiles of PcPALs, PcCHS, and PcCHSLs in leaves and stems differed among four cultivars. Our results suggest that divergence in sequence and expression profiles of the tested genes may contribute to the diversity in flavonoids among the four cultivars.

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Abbreviations

4CL:

4-coumaroyl:CoA-ligase

C4H:

cinnamate-4-hydroxylase

CHS:

chalcone synthase

ORF:

open reading frame

PAL:

phenylalanine ammonia lyase

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

RT-qPCR:

reverse-transcription quantitative PCR

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, P.R. China

    S. Zeng & Y. Wang

  2. Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College, Guangzhou, 510520, P.R. China

    P. Ouyang & X. Mo

  3. Key Laboratory of Plant Germplasm Enhancement and Speciality Agriculture, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, P.R. China

    Y. Wang

Authors
  1. S. Zeng
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  2. P. Ouyang
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  3. X. Mo
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  4. Y. Wang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. Wang.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: This study was partially supported by the Natural Science Project (2013J4100076) of the Science and Information Technology of Guangzhou City and the Natural Science Projects (2012YZ002, 2013YZ004) of the Guangdong Food and Drug Vocational College, and the Scientific Research Equipment Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (YZ201227). The first two authors contributed equally to this paper.

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Zeng, S., Ouyang, P., Mo, X. et al. Characterization of genes coding phenylalanine ammonia lyase and chalcone synthase in four Pogostemon cablin cultivars. Biol Plant 59, 298–304 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-015-0493-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-015-0493-2

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