title: Galactinol synthase gene of Coptis japonica is involved in berberine tolerance.
abstract: Many plant secondary metabolites show strong biological activities and are potentially also toxic to plants, while plants producing such active compounds are usually insensitive to their own metabolites, suggesting that they have species-specific detoxification mechanisms. In order to clarify the detoxification mechanism of alkaloids, we used cultured cells of Coptis japonica, which are capable of producing a yellow benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, berberine, and accumulate it in the vacuole. Unlike other plant cells that do not produce berberine, C. japonica shows strong tolerance to this alkaloid. We established a fission yeast strain that was sensitive to berberine and performed functional screening using a C. japonica cDNA library. One cDNA clone, which conferred clear berberine tolerance, encoded galactinol synthase (CjGolS). The possible role of CjGolS in berberine tolerance is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Plant Gene Expression, Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji 611-0011, Japan.
authors.forename: Kojiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takanashi
authors.forename: Nobukazu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shitan
authors.forename: Akifumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kamimoto
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamamoto
authors.forename: Tomoko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwaki
authors.forename: Kaoru
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takegawa
authors.forename: Kazufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yazaki
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D001599:Berberine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D039323:Coptis / Q000145:classification / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D005700:Galactosyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000187:drug effects; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D001599:Berberine; D005700:Galactosyltransferases; C096645:inositol 1-alpha-galactosyltransferase