Chinese Bulletin of Botany ›› 2019, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (2): 217-226.DOI: 10.11983/CBB18222

Special Issue: 逆境生物学专辑 (2019年54卷2期)

• EXPERIMENTAL COMMUNICATIONS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of SmGGPPS2 Expression on Tanshinones Biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza

Wenping Hua1,2,Chen Chen3,4,Yuan Zhi2,Li Liu1,Zhezhi Wang2,Cuiqin Li2,*()   

  1. 1 Department of Life Sciences and Food Technology, Shaanxi Xueqian Normal University, Xi’an 710061, China
    2 Key Laboratory of Medicinal Resources and Natural Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Ministry of Education, National Engineering Laboratory for Resource Developing of Endangered Chinese Crude Drugs in Northwest of China, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710062, China
    3 Xi’an Botanical Garden, Xi’an 710068, China
    4 Shaanxi Engineering Research Centre for Conservation and Utilization of Botanical Resources, Xi’an 710068, China
  • Received:2018-10-22 Accepted:2019-02-19 Online:2019-03-10 Published:2019-09-01
  • Contact: Cuiqin Li

Abstract: Geranylgerany pyrophosphate synthase (GGPPS) is an important regulator in the plant diterpenoid biosynthesis pathway. The GGPPS gene family plays a critical role in the development of the medicinal model plant Salvia miltiorrhiza. However, the biological function of SmGGPPS2, especially in the biosynthesis of tanshinone or other active ingredients, is still unclear. For functional investigation, SmGGPPS2 expression was up- or down-regulated in S. miltiorrhiza plants via overexpression or RNA interference, respectively. Then we detected the content of tanshinones, the expression of genes related to tanshinone biosynthesis, and the physiological indexes of transgenic S. miltiorrhiza plants. The content of fat-soluble components, such as tanshinone IIA and ferruginol, was increased significantly in SmGG- PPS2-overexpressed lines compared with the wild type, and the content of fat soluble-components was lower in SmGGPPS2-RNAi lines than those in the wild type lines. With the regulation of SmGGPPS2, the expression of key enzyme genes related to tanshinone biosynthesis in S. miltiorrhiza, such as SmHMGR1 and SmCPS1, was changed. In addition, the regulation of SmGGPPS2 expression also affected the resistance of S. miltiorrhiza. Our results indicate that SmGGPPS2 plays an important regulatory role in tanshinone biosynthesis.

Key words: Salvia miltiorrhiza, GGPPS, tanshinone, gene expression