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Enhancement of artemisinin content and relative expression of genes of artemisinin biosynthesis in Artemisia annua by exogenous MeJA treatment

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Abstract

Methyl jasmonate (MeJA) is one of the most potent elicitors that can induce over accumulation of many natural products including artemisinin in plants. The 12 known genes (HMGR, DXS, DXR, HDS, HDR, FPS, ADS, CYP71AV1, DBR2, ALDH1, ORA and ERF1) of terpene metabolism in Artemisia annua were dynamically analyzed at the transcriptional levels in the treatment of MeJA from 0 to 48 h. HMGR (MVA pathway) showed higher expression level when the plants were treated with MeJA from 1 to 9 h and had the highest expression level at 3 h MeJA treatment. The expression levels of DXS and DXR (MEP pathway) reached the peak at 9 h. The last two genes of the MEP pathway, such as HDS and HDR, had the highest expression levels at 24 h. The expression of FPS increased significantly in the treatment of MeJA from 1 to 48 h, and the highest expression level appeared at 24 and 48 h after the MeJA treatment. Four genes in artemisinin-specific biosynthetic pathway including ADS, CYP71AV1, DBR2 and ALDH1 had higher expression levels in the treatment of MeJA from 1 to 48 h. The expression levels of two transcription factors such as ORA and ERF1 were also enhanced. The contents of artemisinin in the plants treated with MeJA for 24 and 48 h were respectively 0.971 and 0.973 mg/g DW, about 1.16-fold of the control (0.809 mg/g DW). Taken together, these results suggested that MeJA induced artemisinin biosynthesis by up-regulating the expression of the genes involved in artemisinin biosynthesis and the transcription factor.

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Abbreviations

ADS:

Amorpha-4,11-diene synthase

ALDH1:

Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1

CYP71AV1:

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenase

DBR2:

Artemisinic aldehyde Δ11(13) reductase

DMAPP:

Dimethylallyl diphosphate

DXS:

1-Deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase

DXR:

1-Deoxy-d-xylulose-5-phosphate reductoisomerase

DW:

Dry weight

ERF1:

Ethylene response factor 1

ELSD:

Evaporative light scattering detector

FPS:

Farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase

GADPH:

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

HPLC:

High performance liquid chromatography

HMGR:

3-Hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme reductase

HDR:

Hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate reductase

HDS:

Hydroxy-2-methyl-2-(E)-butenyl 4-diphosphate synthase

IPP:

Isoprenyl diphosphate

MVA:

Mavalonate

MEP:

2-C-methyl-d-erythritol 4-phosphate

ORA:

Octadecanoid-responsive arabidopsis AP2/ERF

qPCR:

Quantitative PCR

UBQ:

Ubiquitin

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the NSFC Projects (31070266; 31200223), National Hi-Tech Project (2011AA100605), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0930), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2013A024; XDJK2011C017), Scientific and Technological Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (KJ131404) and the Scientific Funds of Southwest University (SWU111012).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region (Ministry of Education), Chongqing Engineering and Technology Research Center for Sweetpotato, SWU-TAAHC Medicinal Plant Joint R&D Centre, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Lien Xiang, Shunqin Zhu, Tengfei Zhao, Man Zhang & Zhihua Liao

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing, 401331, People’s Republic of China

    Wanhong Liu

  3. SWU-TAAHC Medicinal Plant Joint R&D Centre, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, People’s Republic of China

    Min Chen

  4. SWU-TAAHC Medicinal Plant Joint R&D Centre, Agricultural and Animal Husbandry College, Tibet University, Nyingchi of Tibet, 860000, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaozhong Lan

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  1. Lien Xiang
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  2. Shunqin Zhu
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  3. Tengfei Zhao
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  4. Man Zhang
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  5. Wanhong Liu
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  6. Min Chen
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  7. Xiaozhong Lan
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  8. Zhihua Liao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhihua Liao.

Additional information

Lien Xiang and Shunqin Zhu contributed to this work equally.

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Xiang, L., Zhu, S., Zhao, T. et al. Enhancement of artemisinin content and relative expression of genes of artemisinin biosynthesis in Artemisia annua by exogenous MeJA treatment. Plant Growth Regul 75, 435–441 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-014-0004-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-014-0004-z

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