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Cloning and homologous characterization of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (GGPPS) from Withania somnifera revealed alterations in metabolic flux towards gibberellic acid biosynthesis

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Abstract

Main conclusion

Overexpression of a novel geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase gene (WsGGPPS) in planta resulted in increased levels of gibberellic acid and decrease in withanolide content.

Abstract

Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal, the herb from family Solanaceae is one of the most treasured medicinal plant used in traditional medicinal systems owing to its unique stockpile of pharmaceutically active secondary metabolites. Phytochemical and pharmacological studies in this plant were well established, but the genes affecting the regulation of biosynthesis of major metabolites were not well elucidated. In this study cloning and functional characterization of a key enzyme in terpenoid biosynthetic pathway viz. geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (EC 2.5.1.29) gene from Withania somnifera was performed. The full length WsGGPPS gene contained 1,104 base pairs that encode a polypeptide of 365 amino acids. The quantitative expression analysis suggested that WsGGPPS transcripts were expressed maximally in flower tissues followed by berry tissues. The expression levels of WsGGPPS were found to be regulated by methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA). Amino acid sequence alignment and phylogenetic studies suggested that WsGGPPS had close similarities with GGPPS of Solanum tuberosum and Solanum pennellii. The structural analysis provided basic information about three dimensional features and physicochemical parameters of WsGGPPS protein. Overexpression of WsGGPPS in planta for its functional characterization suggested that the WsGGPPS was involved in gibberellic acid biosynthesis.

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Abbreviations

DMAPP:

Dimethylallyl pyrophosphate

GA:

Gibberellic acid

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

GGPPS:

Geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase

IPP:

Isopentenyl pyrophosphate

NMITLI:

The New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative

SA:

Salicylic acid

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Acknowledgements

NSS is thankful to NMITLI-CSIR (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi) for the project grant support. YDS acknowledge the support from University Grant Commission (UGC) for fellowship. ST is thankful to Department of Science and Technology (DST) for WOS-A fellowship.

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Author notes

  1. Yashdeep Srivastava and Sandhya Tripathi contributed equally in the manuscript.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Metabolic and Structural Biology, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CSIR-CIMAP), Lucknow, 226015, India

    Yashdeep Srivastava, Sandhya Tripathi & Neelam S. Sangwan

  2. School of Interdisciplinary and Applied Sciences, Central University of Haryana, Jant-Pali, Mahendragarh, Haryana, 123031, India

    Neelam S. Sangwan

Authors
  1. Yashdeep Srivastava
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  2. Sandhya Tripathi
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  3. Bhawana Mishra
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  4. Neelam S. Sangwan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Neelam S. Sangwan.

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Communicated by Dorothea Bartels.

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Fig. S1 a

Withanolide profiling in W. somnifera leaves transiently transformed by WsGGPPS. b HPLC chromatogram of transiently transformed W. somnifera of representative samples. (WsT = Wild type, WsV = Empty vector control). Each value represents the mean ± SD of three biological replicates (PPTX 239 KB)

Table S1

Primers used in the study (DOCX 14 KB)

Table S2

Physiochemical properties of WsGGPPS (DOCX 14 KB)

Table S3

Docking properties for different substrates and inhibitor molecule with modeled WsGGPPS protein (DOC 32 KB)

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Srivastava, Y., Tripathi, S., Mishra, B. et al. Cloning and homologous characterization of geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase (GGPPS) from Withania somnifera revealed alterations in metabolic flux towards gibberellic acid biosynthesis. Planta 256, 4 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-022-03912-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-022-03912-4

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