Transcriptome analysis of Prunella vulgaris and identification of putative genes involved in secondary metabolism biosynthesis / 中草药

ABSTRACT

Objective To obtain the transcriptome sequence database and to explore the molecule basis of secondary metabolism biosynthesis in Prunella vulgaris. Methods The high-throughput RNA-seq technology (Illumina HiSeq 2000) was used to conduct a transcriptomic analysis of P. vulgaris ears, stems, and leaves. Unigenes were obtained after assembled by Trinity, and the sequencing results were analyzed with the bioinformatics analysis. Results A total of 77 863 Unigenes were obtained and the average length was 716.72 nt. A total of 41 367 (53.13%) unigenes were annotated by a BLAST similarity search against Nr, Swiss-Prot, COG and other four public sequence databases, and 1 406 Unigenes were assigned to secondary metabolism biosynthesis pathways by the KEGG. Based on the bioinformatic analysis, we found that 60 Unigenes were involved in the triterpenes backbone biosynthesis, 24 Unigenes catalyze synthesis of phenolic acids, and 259 Unigenes might participate in secondary metabolism post-modification. Additionally, 118 unigenes might involve in other secondary metabolism biosynthesis of P. vulgaris. Conclusion The transcriptome data of P. vulgaris from this study provides an important resource for understanding the biosynthesis mechanism of its secondary metabolites, and provides basic information that may aid in metabolic engineering to increase yields secondary metabolites of P. vulgaris.