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Comparative Study
. 2019 Apr 1;24(7):1267.
doi: 10.3390/molecules24071267.

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Ampelopsis megalophylla for Identifying Genes Involved in Flavonoid Biosynthesis and Accumulation during Different Seasons

Min Yang  1 , Peina Zhou  2 , Chun Gui  3 , Guozheng Da  4 , Ling Gong  5 , Xiuqiao Zhang  6
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Ampelopsis megalophylla for Identifying Genes Involved in Flavonoid Biosynthesis and Accumulation during Different Seasons

Min Yang et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Ampelopsis megalophylla is an important species used in Chinese folk medicine. Flavonoids, the most important active components of plants, greatly determine the quality of A. megalophylla. However, biosynthesis of flavonoids at the molecular and genetic levels in A. megalophylla is not well understood. In this study, we performed chemical analysis and transcriptome analysis of A. megalophylla in different seasons (i.e., May, August, and October). Accumulation of flavonoids was higher in May than in the other two months. Genes involved in the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway, such as chalcone synthase, anthocyanidin synthase, flavanone 3-hydroxylase, flavonoid-3',5'-hydroxylase, caffeoyl-CoA O-methyltransferase, dihydroflavonol 4-reductase, 4-coumarate-CoA ligase, phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, cinnamate 4-hydroxylase, flavonoid 3'-monooxygenase, shikimate O-hydroxycinnamoyltransferase, and leucoanthocyanidin reductase, were identified based on transcriptome data. Fifty ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter, nine SNARE, forty-nine GST, and eighty-four glycosyltransferases unigenes related to flavonoid transport and biomodification were also found. Moreover, seventy-eight cytochrome P450s and multiple transcription factors (five MYB, two bHLH, and three WD40 family genes) may be associated with the regulation of the flavonoid biosynthesis process. These results provide insights into the molecular processes of flavonoid biosynthesis in A. megalophylla and offer a significant resource for the application of genetic engineering in developing varieties with improved quality.

Keywords: Ampelopsis megalophylla; flavonoid accumulation; flavonoid biosynthesis; transcriptome.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The HPLC chromatographic: A, dihydromyricetin; B, myricitrin; C, quercitrin; D, myricetin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Gene ontology classification of A. megalophylla unigenes.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Functional classification and pathway assignment of assembled unigenes by KEGG.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of transcription factors in A. megalophylla.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(A) The Venn diagram of the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs); (B) The number of up-regulated and down-regulated DEGs.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The flavonoid biosynthesis in A. megalophylla.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The expression patterns of DEGs involved in flavonoid biosynthesis. Blue and red colors represent different levels of gene expression and the color scales reflect a log2-transformed mean of fragments per kilobase of transcript per million mapped (FPKM) values.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The expression level of DEGs of ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter (A), glutathione S-transferase (GST) (B), and soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) (C) genes. Blue and red colors represent different levels of gene expression and the color scales reflect a log2-transformed mean of FPKM values.
Figure 9
Figure 9
The expression level of glycosyltransferase DEGs including glucosyltransferases (A), mannosyltransferases (B), xylosyltransferases (C), UDP-glycosyltransferases (D). Blue and red colors represent different levels of gene expression and the color scales reflect a log2-transformed mean of FPKM values.
Figure 10
Figure 10
The expression level of DEGs encoding MYB (A), WD40 (B), and bHLH (C). Blue and red colors represent different levels of gene expression, and the color scales reflect a log2-transformed mean of FPKM values.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The expression level of DEGs of Cytochromes P450 in A. megalophylla. Blue and red colors represent different levels of gene expression, and the color scales reflect a log2-transformed mean of FPKM values.
Figure 12
Figure 12
The correlation analysis between RNA-seq and qRT–PCR.
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