Bioinformatics and expressional analysis of WRKY transcription factor family in Baphicacanthus cusia / 药学学报

WRKY, a class of conserved transcription factors in plants, plays important roles in plant growth, development and secondary metabolism. In the present study, 65 WRKY members were identified from de novo transcriptome sequencing data of three different tissues (root, stems and leaves) of Baphicacanthus cusia. BcWRKY proteins contained from 221 to 706 amino acids and the isoelectric point is from 4.68 to 9.68. Molecular weights range from 25 711.8 to 75 475 Da. The main secondary structures of BcWRKYs protein are random coil. A subcellular localization prediction indicated that the putative BcWRKY proteins were enriched in the nuclear region. Phylogenetic analysis showed that BcWRKYs could be categorized into three groups and five subgroups (Group IIa, Group IIb, Group IIc, Group IId and Group IIe) in Group II. Structural analysis found that all BcWRKY proteins contained a highly conserved motif WRKYGQK. Finally, the transcriptional profiles of ten BcWRKY genes highly expressed in root, stem and leaf tissues under abscisic acid (ABA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA), or salicylic acid (SA) treatment were systematically investigated using qRT-PCR analysis. Results showed that a total of ten BcWRKY genes were differentially expressed in response to ABA, MeJA, and SA treatment. This work would be provided a basis for further elucidating the molecular mechanism of WRKY transcription factors in the biosynthesis of indole alkaloids in B. cusia.

Advances in study on secondary metabolic engineering of alkaloids in medicinal plants / 中草药

Since the weak research basis on metabolic pathway and regulation mechanism of medicinal plants, obtaining valuable secondary metabolites from medicinal plants by metabolic engineering technology is seriously impacted. Alkaloids are nitrogen heterocyclic compounds in medicinal plants, which have pharmacological effects, such as anti-tumor, anti-microbial, anti-hypotensive, spasmolysis analgesia, etc. It is valuable for optimizing the germplasm resource of medicinal plants and their sustainable development by using metabolic engineering methods to influence the metabolic pathways in order to increase the content of secondary metabolites. The synthetic metabolic pathways about alkaloids of medicinal plants were reviewed in this paper, as well as research methods and regulation strategies, for giving some references to relative studies on alkaloids from medicinal plants.