Genome-wide analysis of UDP-glycosyltransferases family and identification of UGT genes involved in drought stress of Platycodon grandiflorus

Bowen Chen; Xinrui Wang; Hanwen Yu; Nan Dong; Jing Li; Xiangwei Chang; Jutao Wang; Chao Jiang; Juan Liu; Xiulian Chi; Liangping Zha; Shuangying Gui

doi:10.3389/fpls.2024.1363251

Genome-wide analysis of UDP-glycosyltransferases family and identification of UGT genes involved in drought stress of Platycodon grandiflorus

Front Plant Sci. 2024 Apr 29:15:1363251. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1363251. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Bowen Chen^#^{1

2}, Xinrui Wang^#^{1

2}, Hanwen Yu^{1

2}, Nan Dong^{1

2}, Jing Li¹, Xiangwei Chang¹, Jutao Wang¹, Chao Jiang^{3

4}, Juan Liu⁴, Xiulian Chi², Liangping Zha^{1

2

5

6}, Shuangying Gui^{1

2

7

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ College of Pharmacy, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
² Center for Xin'an Medicine and Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine of IHM, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Dao-Di Herbs, National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Research Unit (No. 2019RU057), National Resource Center for Chinese Materia Medica, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁵ Institute of Conservation and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources, Anhui Academy of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
⁶ Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Research and Development of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
⁷ Institute of Pharmaceutics, Anhui Academy of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
⁸ Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Technology and Application Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
⁹ MOE-Anhui Joint Collaborative Innovation Center for Quality Improvement of Anhui Genuine Chinese Medicinal Materials, Hefei, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: The uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferase (UGT) family is the largest glycosyltransferase family, which is involved in the biosynthesis of natural plant products and response to abiotic stress. UGT has been studied in many medicinal plants, but there are few reports on Platycodon grandiflorus. This study is devoted to genome-wide analysis of UGT family and identification of UGT genes involved in drought stress of Platycodon grandiflorus (PgUGTs).

Methods: The genome data of Platycodon grandiflorus was used for genome-wide identification of PgUGTs, online website and bioinformatics analysis software was used to conduct bioinformatics analysis of PgUGT genes and the genes highly responsive to drought stress were screened out by qRT-PCR, these genes were cloned and conducted bioinformatics analysis.

Results: A total of 75 PgUGT genes were identified in P.grandiflorus genome and clustered into 14 subgroups. The PgUGTs were distributed on nine chromosomes, containing multiple cis-acting elements and 22 pairs of duplicate genes were identified. Protein-protein interaction analysis was performed to predict the interaction between PgUGT proteins. Additionally, six genes were upregulated after 3d under drought stress and three genes (PGrchr09G0563, PGrchr06G0523, PGrchr06G1266) responded significantly to drought stress, as confirmed by qRT-PCR. This was especially true for PGrchr06G1266, the expression of which increased 16.21-fold after 3d of treatment. We cloned and conducted bioinformatics analysis of three candidate genes, both of which contained conserved motifs and several cis-acting elements related to stress response, PGrchr06G1266 contained the most elements.

Discussion: PgGT1 was confirmed to catalyze the C-3 position of platycodin D and only eight amino acids showed differences between gene PGr008G1527 and PgGT1, which means PGr008G1527 may be able to catalyze the C-3 position of platycodin D in the same manner as PgGT1. Seven genes were highly expressed in the roots, stems, and leaves, these genes may play important roles in the development of the roots, stems, and leaves of P. grandiflorus. Three genes were highly responsive to drought stress, among which the expression of PGrchr06G1266 was increased 16.21-fold after 3d of drought stress treatment, indicating that PGrchr06G1266 plays an important role in drought stress tolerance. To summarize, this study laied the foundation to better understand the molecular bases of responses to drought stress and the biosynthesis of platycodin.

Keywords: Platycodon grandiflorus; UDP-glycosyltransferase; drought stress; expression analysis; genome-wide identification.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. U21A20406), the Key project at the central government level: The ability establishment of sustainable use for valuable Chinese medicine resources (Grant 2060302-2203-02), the Excellent Young Scholars Project of Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province in China (grant numbers 2208085Y30), and the Key Project Foundation of Support Program for the Excellent Young Faculties in Universities of Anhui Province in China (grant numbers gxyqZD2022051). Science Research Project at the Universities of Anhui Province for Distinguished Young Scholars (2023AH020036). Traditional Chinese Medicine high-level key discipline construction project of National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine -Science of Chinese medicinal material resources (pharmaceutical botany) (zyyzdxk-2023095).