title: Grouping and characterization of putative glycosyltransferase genes from Panax ginseng Meyer.
abstract: Glycosyltransferases are members of the multigene family of plants that can transfer single or multiple activated sugars to a range of plant molecules, resulting in the glycosylation of plant compounds. Although the activities of many glycosyltransferases and their products have been recognized for a long time, only in recent years were some glycosyltransferase genes identified and few have been functionally characterized in detail. Korean ginseng (Panax ginseng Meyer), belonging to Araliaceae, has been well known as a popular mysterious medicinal herb in East Asia for over 2,000 years. A total of 704 glycosyltransferase unique sequences have been found from a ginseng expressed sequence tag (EST) library, and these sequences encode enzymes responsible for the secondary metabolite biosynthesis. Finally, twelve UDP glycosyltransferases (UGTs) were selected as the candidates most likely to be involved in triterpenoid synthesis. In this study, we classified the candidate P. ginseng UGTs (PgUGTs) into proper families and groups, which resulted in eight UGT families and six UGT groups. We also investigated those gene candidates encoding for glycosyltransferases by analysis of gene expression in methyl jasmonate (MeJA)-treated ginseng adventitious roots and different tissues from four-year-old ginseng using quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). For organ-specific expression, most of PgUGT transcription levels were higher in leaves and roots compared with flower buds and stems. The transcription of PgUGTs in adventitious roots treated with MeJA increased as compared with the control. PgUGT1 and PgUGT2, which belong to the UGT71 family genes expressed in MeJA-treated adventitious roots, were especially sensitive, showing 33.32 and 38.88-fold expression increases upon 24h post-treatments, respectively.
authors: Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, Seocheon, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, South Korea.
authors: Altanzul
authors: A
authors: Khorolragchaa
authors: Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, Seocheon, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, South Korea.
authors: Yu-Jin
authors: YJ
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, Seocheon, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, South Korea.
authors: Shadi
authors: S
authors: Rahimi
authors: Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, Seocheon, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, South Korea.
authors: Johan
authors: J
authors: Sukweenadhi
authors: Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, Seocheon, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, South Korea.
authors: Moon-Gi
authors: MG
authors: Jang
authors: Department of Oriental Medicinal Materials and Processing, College of Life Science, Kyung Hee University, Seocheon, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, South Korea. Electronic address: dcyang@khu.ac.kr.
authors: Deok-Chun
authors: DC
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D016695:Glycosyltransferases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics; D005894:Panax / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D016695:Glycosyltransferases
keywords: EST; GT; MeJA; Methyl jasmonate; Panax ginseng; RT-PCR; UDP glycosyltransferases; UDP-glycosyltransferase; UGT; expressed sequence tags; glycosyltransferase; methyl jasmonates; reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction