Comparative transcriptome analysis of different tissues of Mahonia bealei provided new insights into the biosynthetic pathway of Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids
Mahonia bealei is a traditional Chinese medicinal plant. M. bealei is rich in Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIAs), which have shown significant therapeutic effects in treating conditions like acute pharyngitis and endometritis, and possess various pharmacological activities such as anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. By conducting network pharmacology analysis on the molecular mechanisms of BIAs in antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory actions, potential therapeutic targets were identified. Due to the lack of whole genomic information, transcriptome of M. bealei was firstly generated by RNA sequencing analysis (RNA-seq) in this study. A total of 183,900 unigenes were obtained. Additionally, functional annotation of these genes revealed that 111,875 (60.803%) of the unigenes were annotated by seven major databases, among which 75 unigenes related to the BIA biosynthetic pathway were identified. Correlation analys is revealed that the expression levels of O-Methyltransferases family genes are significantly and positively correlated with BIAs content. By conducting structural and sequence analysis of the unigenes encoding (RS)-norcoclaurine6-O-methyltransferase (DN15317) and 3'-hydroxy-N-methyl-(S)-coclaurine4'-O-methyltransferase (DN556-12), and studying their binding with substrates, their potential biological functions can be assessed. This study, for the first time, provides a transcriptome profile of M. bealei, offering information for further understanding the BIAs biosynthetic pathway in M. bealei and laying the foundation for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of BIAs biosynthesis.