Identification and expression analysis of NRT1 family genes in Rehmannia glutinosa / 中国中药杂志

NRT1 family proteins play an important roles for absorbing and transporting of nitrate in different plants. In order to identify the NRT1 family genes of Rehmannia glutinosa, this study used 11 NRT1 homologous proteins of Arabidopsis as probe sequences and aligned with the transcriptome data of R. glutinosa by using NCBI BLASTN software. Resulting there were 18 NRT1 proteins were identified in R. glutinosa. On basis of this, a series of the molecular characteristics of R. glutinosa NRT1 proteins including the conserved domains, the transmembrane structure, the subcellular location and phylogenetic features were in detail analyzed. At same time, it were systematically analyzed that the temporal and spatial expression patterns and characteristics of R. glutinosa NRT1 family genes in response to different stress factors. The results indicated that 18 R. glutinosa NRT1 family genes with the length of coding region from 1 260 bp to 1 806 bp, encoded proteins ranging from 419 to 601 amino acids, and all of they owned the domains of typical peptide transporter with 7 to 12 transmembrane domains. These R. glutinosa NRT1 family proteins mostly were found to locate on cellular plasma membrane, and belonged to the hydrophobic proteins. Furthermore, the evolutionary analysis found that the 18 R. glutinosa NRT1 protein family could be divided into two subfamilies, of which 14 NRT1 family genes might occur the positive selection, and 4 genes occur the passivation selection during the evolution process of R. glutinosa. In addition the expression analysis showed that 18 R. glutinosa NRT1 family genes have the distinct expression patterns in different tissues of R. glutinosa, and their expression levels were also obvious difference in response to various stress. These findings infield that 18 R. glutinosa NRT1 family proteins might have obviously different functional roles in nitrate transport of R. glutinosa. In conclusion, this study lays a solid theoretical foundation for clarifying the absorption and transport molecular mechanism of N element during R. glutinosa growth and development, and at same time for deeply studying the molecular function of R. glutinosa NRT1 proteins in absorption and transport of nitrate.

[Evolution and transition of source of Patrinia Herba and Patrinia Radix].

Both Patrinia Herba and Patrinia Radix are traditional Chinese herbal medicines. The herbal source and medicinal part of them are confusing in the herbal medicine market of China. To explore the evolution and transition of the herbal source and medicinal part of Patrinia Herba and Patrinia Radix, this paper systematically summarizes the record of the herbal source and medicinal part of them in ancient classics of herbal medicine in China. According to the findings, before Ming Dynasty, Patrinia Herba originated from the radix of the plants with yellow flowers of Patrinia. In Ming and Qing Dynasty, Patrinia Herba originates from the whole plant (including the radix)of the plant with white flowers of Patrinia. In Ming Dynasty, Patrinia Radix, stemming from the radix of the plants with yellow flowers of Patrinia, started to be used as a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, which had the same herbal source with that of Patrinia Herba before Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Patrinia Herba and Patrinia Radix can be seen as the same traditional Chinese herbal medicine, and the genuine of Patrinia Herba should be the radix and the whole herba of P. scabiosaefolia and P. heterophylla.