The dried root of Codonopsis pilosula (Franch.) Nannf., referred to as Dangshen in Chinese, is a famous traditional Chinese medicine. Polysaccharides, lobetyolin, and atractylenolide III are the major bioactive components contributing to its medicinal properties. Here, we investigated the dynamic changes of the main substances in annual Dangshen harvested at 12 time points from 20 May to 20 November 2020 (from early summer to early winter). Although the root biomass increased continuously, the crude polysaccharides content increased and then declined as the temperature fell, and so did the content of soluble proteins. However, the content of total phenolics and flavonoids showed an opposite trend, indicating that the carbon flux was changed between primary metabolism and secondary metabolism as the temperature and growth stages changed. The changes in the contents of lobetyolin and atractylenolide III indicated that autumn might be a suitable harvest time for Dangshen. The antioxidant capacity in Dangshen might be correlated with vitamin C. Furthermore, we analyzed the expression profiles of a few enzyme genes involved in the polysaccharide biosynthesis pathways at different growth stages, showing that CpUGpase and CPPs exhibited a highly positive correlation. These results might lay a foundation for choosing cultivars using gene expression levels as markers.
Keywords: Codonopsis pilosula; atractylenolide III; carbon flux; gene expression; polysaccharides; secondary metabolites.