Cloning and gene function of dicarboxylate-tricarboxylate carrier protein in Gastrodia elata / 中国中药杂志

The gene GeDTC encoding the dicarboxylate-tricarboxylate carrier protein in Gastrodia elata was cloned by specific primers which were designed based on the transcriptome data of G. elata. Bioinformatics analysis on GeDTC gene was carried out by using ExPASY, ClustalW, MEGA, etc. Positive transgenic plants and potato minituber were obtained by virtue of the potato genetic transformation system. Agronomic characters, such as size, weight, organic acid content, and starch content, of potato minituber were tested and analyzed and GeDTC gene function was preliminarily investigated. The results showed that the open reading frame of GeDTC gene was 981 bp in length and 326 amino acid residues were encoded, with a relative molecular weight of 35.01 kDa. It was predicted that the theoretical isoelectric point of GeDTC protein was 9.83, the instability coefficient was 27.88, and the average index of hydrophilicity was 0.104, which was indicative of a stable hydrophilic protein. GeDTC protein had a transmembrane structure and no signal peptide and was located in the inner membrane of mitochondria. The phylogenetic tree showed that GeDTC was highly homologous with DTC proteins of other plant species, among which GeDTC had the highest homology with DcDTC(XP＿020675804.1) in Dendrobium candidum, reaching 85.89%. GeDTC overexpression vector pCambia1300-35Spro-GeDTC was constructed by double digests, and transgenic potato plants were obtained by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation. Compared with the wild-type plants, transgenic potato minituber harvested by transplanting had smaller size, lighter weight, lower organic acid content, and no significant difference in starch content. It is preliminarily induced that GeDTC is the efflux channel of tricarboxylate and related to the tuber development, which lays a foundation for further elucidating the molecular mechanism of G. elata tuber development.

Bioinformatics analysis and function prediction of ginseng TCP transcription factor family / 中国中药杂志

The longevity mechanism of ginseng(Panax ginseng) is related to its strong meristematic ability. In this paper, this study used bioinformatic methods to identify the members of the ginseng TCP gene family in the whole genome and analyzed their sequence characteristics. Then, quantitative real-time fluorescent PCR was performed to analyze the TCP genes containing elements rela-ted to meristem expression in the taproots, fibrous roots, stems, and leaves. According to the data, this study further explored the expression specificity of TCP genes in ginseng tissues, which facilitated the dissection of the longevity mechanism of ginseng. The ginseng TCP members were identified and analyzed using PlantTFDB, ExPASy, MEME, PLANTCARE, TBtools, MEGA and DNAMAN. The results demonstrated that there were 60 TCP gene family members in ginseng, and they could be divided into two classes: Class Ⅰ and Class Ⅱ, in which the Class Ⅱ possessed two subclasses: CYC-TCP and CIN-TCP. The deduced TCP proteins in ginseng had the length of 128-793 aa, the isoelectric point of 4.49-9.84 and the relative molecular mass of 14.2-89.3 kDa. They all contained the basic helix-loop-helix(bHLH) domain. There are a variety of stress response-related cis-acting elements in the promoter regions of ginseng TCP genes, and PgTCP20-PgTCP24 contained the elements associated with meristematic expression. The transcription levels of PgTCP20-PgTCP24 were high in fibrous roots and leaves, but low in stems, indicating the tissue-specific expression of ginseng TCP genes. The Class Ⅰ TCP members which contained PgTCP20-PgTCP23, may be important regulators for the growth and development of ginseng roots.

Differences between male and female leaves of Schisandra sphenanthera: based on RNA-Seq / 中国中药杂志

Schisandra sphenanthera is dioecious and only the fruits of female plants can be used as medicine and food. It is of great significance for the cultivation and production of S. sphenanthera to explore the differences between male and female plants at the non-flowering stage and develop the identification markers at non-flowering or seedling stage. In this study, the transcriptome of male and female leaves of S. sphenanthera at the non-flowering stage was sequenced by Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology and analyzed based on bioinformatics. A total of 236 682 transcripts were assembled by Trinity software and 171 588 were chosen as unigenes. Finally, 1 525 differentially expressed genes(DEGs) were identified, with 458 up-regulated and 1 067 down-regulated in female lea-ves. The down-regulated genes mainly involve photosynthesis, photosynthesis-antenna protein, carbon fixation in photosynthetic or-ganisms, and other pathways. Real-time quantitative PCR(qPCR) identified two genes between male and female leaves and one of them was a HVA22-like gene related to floral organ development and abscisic acid(ABA). Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) was applied to determine the content of ABA, auxin, gibberellin, and zeatin riboside(ZR) in leaves of S. sphenanthera. The results showed that the content of ABA and ZR in male leaves was significantly higher than that in female leaves. The involvement of down-regulated genes in female leaves in the photosynthesis pathway and the significant differences in the content of endogenous hormones between male and female leaves lay a scientific basis for analyzing the factors affecting sex differentiation of S. sphenanthera.

Quantitative Classification of Murraya paniculata Leaf Traits and Endogenous Hormone Contents Analysis / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:To carry out germplasm resource evaluation and new variety breeding of <italic>Murraya paniculata</italic> and improve the germplasm quality， so as to ensure the demand， yield and quality of medicinal materials. Method:Following resource investigation and collection， 17 traits of 107 <italic>M. paniculata</italic> germplasm samples， like plant type， basal diameter， leaf shape， leaf length， and leaf width were determined and then subjected to principal component analysis and factor analysis for screening the principal component factors. Nine primary traits were selected as variables for further cluster analysis using Ward's method and Euclidean distance. According to the characteristics of medicinal parts， the core germplasms were screened out. Then the contents of auxin， zeatin， zeatin nucleoside， isopentenyl adenine， isopentenyl adenine riboside， dihydrozeatin， and dihydrozeatinriboside in the leaves were measured by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （UPLC-MS/MS）， followed by their correlation analysis with agronomic trait. Result:The variation coefficients of petiole length， branching number， and basal diameter were large. The nine main factors could be classified into four categories， with a contribution rate of 72.822%. The cluster analysis with Ward's method and Euclidean distance showed that 107 germplasm samples were clustered into six clusters and 61 core germplasms were identified. Such traits as leaf length， leaf width， petiole length， leaf surface， and petiole color were found to play an important role in the classification of <italic>M. paniculata</italic> germplasms. The content of zeatin nucleoside exhibited significant positive correlations with leaf length （<italic>P</italic><0.01）， petiole length （<italic>P</italic><0.01）， and leaf width （<italic>P</italic><0.05）. Conclusion:These results have laid the foundation for further selection and breeding of <italic>M. paniculata</italic> new varieties.

Quantitative taxonomic study on agronomic traits of cultivated Gastrodia elata / 中国中药杂志

To better understand the formation mechanism of Gastrodia elata traits, the agronomic traits of aboveground tissues and tubers were measured and analyzed in this study. It has shown that the color and thickness of the stems of the 39 samples of the G. elata collected are affected by the germplasm and variation. Clustering analysis of 39 agronomic traits of G. elata was conducted with Ward's method and Euclidean distance. The threshold of 11.0 was divided into three groups, namely hybrid G. elata, G. elata f. elata and G. elata f. glauca. Simultaneously, the correlation analysis, coefficient of variation analysis, factor analysis and cluster analysis of 13 agronomic traits of 105 G. elata tuber samples were carried out. The results showed that the weight of G. elata was significantly positively correlated with tuber length and width. The agronomic traits of tuber were highly variable, and the depth of variability of the scar was the largest and 13 agronomic traits could be divided into 6 types of factors and the contribution up to 89.348%, furthermore, tuber length factor, width and weight factor contributed more than 20%, indicating that it is of great significance for distinguishing G. elata germplasm. Cluster analysis was performed by Ward's method and Euclidean distance, with 8.0 as the threshold can be divided into three categories in the light of the origin of the source, 33 samples from Shanxi and Hubei are clustered into one category, and 19 samples from Yunnan and Guizhou are clustered into one group, and the remaining samples are grouped into one category. This study will provide a basis for the identification and purification of G. elata germplasm and germplasm resources.

Selection of Reference Genes for microRNA Real-time PCR Under Salt Stress in Armillaria gallica / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objiective： In the process of microRNA expression analysis by quantitative Real-time polymerase chain reaction（Real-time PCR），the selection of miRNA plays an important role in data standardization. Method:In this paper，13 Armillaria gallica.Candidate miRNAs were selected for bioinformatics analysis of their precursors，and the PMRD was used to predict similar sequences of their precursors，and the RNAfold was used to predict the secondary structure of the candidate miRNAs and their similar sequences. Real-time PCR was used to detect miRNAs expression in two genotypes of Armillaria gallica（genotype A，genotype B） before and after salt stress，and geNorm，NormFinder and BestKeeper were used to analyze the stability of miRNAs expression. Result:Secondary structure prediction and characterization of 9 candidate miRNA precursors showed that the miRNA predicted belonged to the miR family with typical stem-loop structure and the mature miRNAs were at the 5' or 3' end of the miRNA precursors.geNorm analysis showed that genotype A Armillaria gallica could select Novel-4* and Novel-9 as reference gene，genotype B could select Novel-9 and Novel-16 as its reference gene.NormFinder analysis showed that Novel-9 was stable in both genotype A and B Armillaria gallica.BestKeeper analysis showed that Novel-12* was stable in genotype A Armillaria gallica and Novel-2* was stable in genotype B Armillaria gallica. Conclusion:miRNA Novel-9 is the best stable reference gene，which lays a foundation for further research on the regulation mechanism of miRNA in Armillaria gallica.

Effect of fresh Gastrodia elata on gut microbiota in mice / 中国中药杂志

Gastrodia elata B1.,a traditional Chinese medicine,was frequently applied as a cure for headache or migraine. Its effects include suppressing hyperactive liver,calming endogenous wind,dredging collateralsand relieving spasm. There has been a proportion that G. elata should be added to The List of Substances That Are Traditionally Both Food and Chinese Medicinal Materials. The dry G. elata was commonly used in clinic,which have some fundamental study on efficacy and mechanism. However,fresh G. elata,which was added to herbal cuisine very often,lacks corresponding research. The interaction of diet,microbiota and human is a hot issue and lots of scholars are focusing on it. This research sequenced the 16 S rRNA of mouse cecal contents on Mi Seq platform to understand the effect of taking fresh G. elata. As the results showing,multiple probiotics grew after taking fresh G. elata extract,including Ruminiclostridium,Butyricicoccus,and Parvibacter. To contrast,some pathogens or potential pathogens,such as Escherichia/Shigella,Parasutterella,decreased. This manifests that fresh G. elata performs a positive regulation on mouse gut microbiota,especially the low-dose fresh G. elata extraction could restructure the microbiota apparently. Our result reveals that microbiota might be a new target for G. elata extract and provides an important basis for further research on the interaction between gut microbiota and pharmacological activity of G. elata.