Exploring genes involved in benzoic acid biosynthesis in the Populus davidiana transcriptome and their transcriptional activity upon methyl jasmonate treatment

Benzoic acids (BAs) are important structural elements in a wide variety of essential compounds and natural products, and play crucial roles in plant fitness. BA is a precursor of diverse benzenoid compounds, including the hormone salicylic acid (SA) and the aglycone moiety of salicin, which is parti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of chemical ecology 2017-12, Vol.43 (11-12), p.1097-1108
Main Authors: Park, Seong-Bum, Kim, Jong Youn, Han, Jung Yeon, Ahn, Chang-Ho, Park, Eung-Jun, Choi, Yong Eui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accumulation
Acetates - pharmacology
Acyl Coenzyme A - genetics
Acyl Coenzyme A - metabolism
Agriculture
Alcohols
Aldehyde Oxidoreductases - genetics
Aldehyde Oxidoreductases - metabolism
Ammonia
Benzaldehyde
Benzenoids
Benzoic acid
Benzoic Acid - chemistry
Benzoic Acid - metabolism
Benzyl alcohol
Biochemistry
Biological Microscopy
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biosynthesis
Chemical ecology
Cinnamic acid
Cyclopentanes - pharmacology
Dehydrogenase
Dehydrogenases
Ecology
Entomology
Fitness
Gene expression
Gene sequencing
Genes
Leaves
Life Sciences
Methyl jasmonate
Natural products
Organs
Oxylipins - pharmacology
Peroxisomes
Phenylalanine
Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase - genetics
Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase - metabolism
Plant Cells - drug effects
Plant Cells - metabolism
Plant Leaves - genetics
Plant Leaves - metabolism
Plant Proteins - genetics
Plant Proteins - metabolism
Plants
Plants (botany)
Populus - genetics
Populus - metabolism
Populus davidiana
Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
RNA, Plant - chemistry
RNA, Plant - isolation & purification
RNA, Plant - metabolism
Salicin
Salicylic acid
Sequence Analysis, RNA
Signaling
Structural members
Thiolase
Transcription
Transcriptome - drug effects
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Summary:Benzoic acids (BAs) are important structural elements in a wide variety of essential compounds and natural products, and play crucial roles in plant fitness. BA is a precursor of diverse benzenoid compounds, including the hormone salicylic acid (SA) and the aglycone moiety of salicin, which is particularly important in the Salicaceae family. The biosynthetic pathways leading to BA formation in plants are largely unknown. Recently, the CoA-dependent β-oxidative BA biosynthesis pathway, which occurs in peroxisomes, has been characterized in petunia. The core of this pathway is cinnamic acid → cinnamoyl-CoA → 3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoyl-CoA → 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanoyl-CoA → benzoyl-CoA. Here, we used 454 pyrosequencing to analyze the transcriptome of Populus davidiana and isolate putative genes involved in BA biosynthesis. De novo assembly generated 57,322 unique sequences, including 15,217 contigs and 42,105 singletons. From the unique sequences, we selected six genes exhibiting high similarity to genes encoding L-phenylalanine ammonia lyase, cinnamate:CoA ligase, cinnamoyl-CoA hydratase-dehydrogenase, 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, benzoyl-CoA:benzyl alcohol O-benzoyltransferase, and benzaldehyde dehydrogenase. Each of these enzymes might be involved in BA biosynthesis. Real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis revealed that these six genes were highly transcribed in the aerial organs of P. davidiana , particularly in leaves. Treating the leaves of in vitro cultured plants with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) strongly enhanced the mRNA accumulation of all 6 genes, and this treatment also clearly enhanced the accumulation of BA, SA, salicyl alcohol, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, and benzaldehyde but not salicin. Our study shows that P. davidiana may possess a CoA-dependent β-oxidative BA synthesis pathway. We also identified a relationship between the transcription of these genes and the accumulation of benzenoids, including BA and SA, which are highly responsive to the defense signaling molecule (MeJA).
ISSN:0098-0331
1573-1561
DOI:10.1007/s10886-017-0903-3