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454 EST analysis detects genes putatively involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis in Panax ginseng

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Abstract

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer is one of the most highly valued medicinal plants in the world. To analyze the transcriptome of P. ginseng and discover the genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis, cDNAs derived from the total RNA of 11-year-old, wood-grown P. ginseng roots were analyzed by 454 sequencing. A total of 217,529 high quality reads (expressed sequence tags, ESTs), with an average length of 409 bases, were generated from a one-quarter run to yield 31,741 unique sequences. The majority (20,198; 63.6%) of the unique sequences were annotated using BLAST similarity searches. A total of 16,810 and 16,577 unique sequences were assigned to functional classifications and biochemical pathways based on Gene Ontology analysis and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes assignment, respectively. Nine genes involved in the biosynthesis of ginsenoside skeletons and many candidate genes putatively responsible for modification of the skeletons, including 133 cytochrome P450s and 235 glycosyltransferases, were identified. From these candidates, six transcripts encoding UDP-glycosyltransferases that were most likely to be involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis were selected. These results open a new avenue by which to explore and exploit biosynthetic and biochemical properties that may lead to drug improvement. These 454 ESTs will provide the foundation for further functional genomic research into the traditional herb P. ginseng or its closely related species.

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Abbreviations

BLAST:

Basic Local Alignment Search Tool

bp:

Base pair

cDNA:

Complementary DNA

CYP450:

Cytochrome P450

DS:

Dammarendiol synthase

EST:

Expressed sequence tag

GO:

Gene ontology

GT:

Glycosyltransferase

KEGG:

Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes

NCBI:

National Center for Biotechnology Information

OSC:

Oxidosqualene cyclase

UGT:

UDP-glycosyltransferase

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Special Funds for The Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry in Jilin Province (YYZX20100105) and the Special Funds in Basic Scientific Research for Non-profit Research Institutes financed by the Ministry of Finance, People’s Republic of China (YE-10-17).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, No.151, Malianwa North Road, HaiDian, Beijing, 100193, China

    S. Chen, H. Luo, Y. Li, Y. Sun, Y. Niu, J. Song, Y. Zhu & C. Sun

  2. Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Diagnosis, Guangdong Medical College, Guangdong, 523808, China

    Q. Wu

  3. Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China

    A. Lv

  4. Centre de Recherche Public-Santé, Luxembourg, 1526, Luxembourg

    A. Steinmetz

  5. China Pharmacopoeia Commission, Beijing, 100061, China

    Z. Qian

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  1. S. Chen
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  2. H. Luo
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  3. Y. Li
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  4. Y. Sun
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  9. Y. Zhu
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  10. C. Sun
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Correspondence to S. Chen or C. Sun.

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Communicated by C. Quiros.

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Chen, S., Luo, H., Li, Y. et al. 454 EST analysis detects genes putatively involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis in Panax ginseng . Plant Cell Rep 30, 1593–1601 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-011-1070-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-011-1070-6

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