Integrative transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses unveil tanshinone biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza root under N starvation stress

Salvia miltiorrhiza is a model plant for Chinese herbal medicine with significant pharmacologic effects due to its tanshinone components. Our previous study indicated that nitrogen starvation stress increased its tanshinone content. However, the molecular mechanism of this low nitrogen-induced tansh...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-08, Vol.17 (8), p.e0273495-e0273495
Main Authors: Lu, Li-Lan, Zhang, Yu-Xiu, Yang, Yan-Fang
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Biology and Life Sciences
Biosynthesis
Catalysis
Enzymes
Gene expression
Genetic aspects
Herbal medicine
Kinases
Lipids
Medicinal plants
Metabolites
Metabolomics
MicroRNAs
Molecular modelling
Nitrogen
Phosphorus
Physical Sciences
Plant metabolites
Properties
Sage
Salvia miltiorrhiza
Secondary metabolites
Seeds
Signal transduction
Stress
Sucrose
Tanshinones
Transcriptomes
Transcriptomics
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Summary:Salvia miltiorrhiza is a model plant for Chinese herbal medicine with significant pharmacologic effects due to its tanshinone components. Our previous study indicated that nitrogen starvation stress increased its tanshinone content. However, the molecular mechanism of this low nitrogen-induced tanshinone biosynthesis is still unclear. Thus, this study aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanism of tanshinone biosynthesis in S. miltiorrhiza under different N conditions [N-free (N0), low-N (Nl), and full-N (Nf, as control) conditions] by using transcriptome and metabolome analyses. Our results showed 3,437 and 2,274 differentially expressed unigenes between N0 and Nf as well as Nl and Nf root samples, respectively. N starvation (N0 and Nl) promoted the expression of the genes involved in the MVA and MEP pathway of tanshinone and terpenoid backbone biosynthesis. Gene ontology and KEGG analyses revealed that terpenoid backbone biosynthesis, hormone signal transduction, and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis were promoted under N starvation conditions, whereas starch and sucrose metabolisms, nitrogen and phosphorus metabolisms, as well as membrane development were inhibited. Furthermore, metabolome analysis showed that metabolite compounds and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites were upregulated. This study provided a novel insight into the molecular mechanisms of tanshinone production in S. miltiorrhiza in response to nitrogen stress.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0273495