title: Enhancing the scopolamine production in transgenic plants of Atropa belladonna by overexpressing pmt and h6h genes.
abstract: Atropa belladonna is officially deemed as the commercial plant to produce scopolamine in China. In this study we report the simultaneous overexpression of two functional genes involved in biosynthesis of scopolamine, which encode the upstream key enzyme putrescine N-methyltransferase (PMT) and the downstream key enzyme hyoscyamine 6β-hydroxylase (H6H), respectively, in transgenic herbal plants Atropa belladonna. Analysis of gene expression profile indicated that both pmt and h6h were expressed at a higher level in transgenic lines, which would be favorable for biosynthesis of scopolamine. High-performance liquid chromatography result suggested that transgenic lines could produce higher accumulation of scopolamine at different levels compared with wild-type lines. Scopolamine content increased to 7.3-fold in transgenic line D9 compared with control lines. This study not only confirms that co-overexpression of pmt and h6h is an ideal method to improve the biosynthetic capacity of scopolamine but also successfully cultivates the transgenic line D9, which significantly enhanced the scopolamine accumulation. Our research can serve as an alternative choice to provide scopolamine resources for relative industry, which is more competitive than conventional market.
authors: Key Laboratory of Eco-environments in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, Chongqing Sweet potato Research Center, School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
authors: Xirong
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: Min
authors: M
authors: Chen
authors: Chunxian
authors: C
authors: Yang
authors: Xiaoqiang
authors: X
authors: Liu
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Xiaozhong
authors: X
authors: Lan
authors: Kexuan
authors: K
authors: Tang
authors: Zhihua
authors: Z
authors: Liao
mesh_terms: D001532:Atropa belladonna / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D060847:Metabolic Engineering; D008780:Methyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases / Q000235:genetics*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000378:metabolism; D018749:RNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D012601:Scopolamine / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018749:RNA, Plant; D012601:Scopolamine; D006899:Mixed Function Oxygenases; C052273:hyoscyamine (6S)-dioxygenase; D008780:Methyltransferases; C112598:putrescine N-methyltransferase