title: Expression profile of a PAL gene from Astragalus membranaceus var. Mongholicus and its crucial role in flux into flavonoid biosynthesis.
abstract: An important traditional Chinese medicine herb, Astragalus membranaceus var. Mongholicus, whose dried root is known as Radix astragali ("Huangqi" in Chinese), has high flavonoid content as an essential active constituent. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL, EC 4.3.1.5) catalyzes the first and also a rate-limiting step in phenylpropanoid pathway, which supplies precursors for a variety of secondary metabolites including flavonoids. A PAL gene, designated AmPAL1 (GenBank accession no. AY986506), was isolated from A. membranaceus var. Mongholicus with a full-length cDNA of 2562 nucleotides and an open reading frame of 2154 bp. Northern blot analysis revealed that AmPAL1 expressed universally in different organs, and its expression was markedly induced by UV irradiation, mechanical wounding, and white light irradiation on etiolated seedlings, with some distinctive responsive properties. Content of a typical flavonoid, quercetin, in A. membranaceus var. Mongholicus of different ages correlated with PAL enzymatic activity. Transgenic tobacco plants harboring AmPAL1 under the control of the CaMV35S promoter showed significantly increased PAL activity and correlatively increased quercetin content than those in non-transformed plants. These results indicate that PAL is maybe a key point for flux into flavonoid biosynthesis in the genetic control of secondary metabolism in A. membranaceus var. Mongholicus.
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Protein Engineering and Plant Genetic Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Rongrong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shaohua
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Jialin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yuanlei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Zhongping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D027883:Astragalus Plant / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010650:Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D036226:Seedlings; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids; D010650:Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase