Objective: The barks, leaves, and branches of Cinnamomum cassia have been historically used as a traditional Chinese medicine, spice, and food preservative, in which phenylpropanoids are responsible compounds. However phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways are not clear in C. cassia. We elucidated the pathways by descriptive analyses of differentially expressed genes related to phenylpropanoid biosynthesis as well as to identify various phenylpropanoid metabolites. Methods: Chemical analysis, metabolome sequencing, and transcriptome sequencing were performed to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the difference of active components content in the barks, branches and leaves of C. cassia. Results: Metabolomic analysis revealed that small amounts of flavonoids, coumarine, and cinnamaldehyde accumulated in both leaves and branches. Transcriptome analysis showed that genes associated with phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis were downregulated in the leaves and branches relative to the barks. The observed differences in essential oil content among the three tissues may be attributable to the differential expression of genes involved in the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid metabolic pathways. Conclusion: This study identified the key genes in the phenylpropanoid pathway controling the flavonoid, coumarine, and cinnamaldehyde contents in the barks, branches and leaves by comparing the transcriptome and metabolome. These findings may be valuable in assessing phenylpropanoid and flavonoid metabolites and identifying specific candidate genes that are related to the synthesis of phenylpropanoids and flavonoids in C. cassia.
关键词:
肉桂;代谢组;苯丙烷类生物合成;转录组
Keywords:
Project Supported:
The Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (No. 2019A1515111043), Basic Research Project of Luoding Cinnamon Industry Development (No. 2018-082), Youth Innovative Talents Project by Educational Department of Guangdong Province (No. 2019KQNCX057), Special Fund for Science and Technology Innovation Cultivation of Guangdong University Students (special fund for ‘‘climbing plan”) (No. 51348227), and the Scientific Research Project of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Bureau of Guangdong Province (No. 20202104) supported this study.
Hongyang Gao a, Huiju Zhang a, Yuqing Hu a, Danyun Xu a, Sikai Zheng a, Shuting Su a, Quan Yang a, b,c, d,*. De novo transcriptome assembly and metabolomic analysis of three tissue types in Cinnamomum cassia[J]. Chinese Herbal Medicines (CHM),2023,15(2):310-316
