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Functional analysis of β-amyrin synthase gene in ginsenoside biosynthesis by RNA interference

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Abstract

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Down-regulation of β-amyrin synthase gene expression by RNA interference led to reduced levels of β-amyrin and oleanane-type ginsenoside as well as up-regulation of dammarane-type ginsenoside level.

Abstract

In the biosynthetic pathway of ginsenosides, β-amyrin synthase catalyzes the reaction from oxidosqualene to β-amyrin, the proposed aglycone of oleanane-type saponins. Here, RNAi was employed to evaluate the role of this gene in ginsenoside biosynthesis of Panax ginseng hairy roots. The results showed that RNAi-mediated down-regulation of this gene led to reduced levels of β-amyrin and oleanane-type ginsenoside Ro as well as increased level of total ginsenosides, indicating an important role of this gene in biosynthesis of ginsenoside. Expression of key genes involved in dammarane-type ginsenoside including genes of dammarenediol synthase and protopanaxadiol and protopanaxatriol synthases were up-regulated in RNAi lines. While expression of squalene synthase genes was not significantly changed, β-amyrin oxidase gene was down-regulated. This work will be helpful for further understanding ginsenoside biosynthesis pathway.

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Abbreviations

βAS:

β-Amyrin synthase

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

RNAi:

RNA interference

HPLC:

High-performance liquid chromatography

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by funds from National Natural Science Foundation of China (31270337), National High Technology Research and Development Program 863 (2013AA102604-3), and Undergraduate Innovation Training Program of Jilin University.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, China

    Che Zhao, Tianhui Xu, Yanlong Liang, Shoujing Zhao, Luquan Ren, Qian Wang & Bo Dou

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  1. Che Zhao
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  2. Tianhui Xu
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  3. Yanlong Liang
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  4. Shoujing Zhao
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  5. Luquan Ren
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  6. Qian Wang
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  7. Bo Dou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanlong Liang.

Additional information

Communicated by F. Sato.

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Zhao, C., Xu, T., Liang, Y. et al. Functional analysis of β-amyrin synthase gene in ginsenoside biosynthesis by RNA interference. Plant Cell Rep 34, 1307–1315 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1788-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-015-1788-7

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