Flavonoid Metabolism in Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg Based on Metabolome Analysis and Transcriptome Sequencing

Yan Bai; Lingtai Jiang; Zhe Li; Shouzan Liu; Xiaotian Hu; Fei Gao

doi:10.3390/molecules28010083

Flavonoid Metabolism in Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg Based on Metabolome Analysis and Transcriptome Sequencing

Molecules. 2022 Dec 22;28(1):83. doi: 10.3390/molecules28010083.

Authors

Yan Bai^{1

2

3}, Lingtai Jiang^{1

2

3}, Zhe Li^{1

2

3}, Shouzan Liu^{3

4}, Xiaotian Hu^{1

2

3}, Fei Gao^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Resources Protection and Innovation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hangzhou 311300, China.
² College of Food and Health, Department of Traditional Chinese medicine, Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Silviculture, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China.
⁴ Botanical Garden, Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University, Hangzhou 311300, China.

Abstract

Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg, known as a "plant antibiotic", possesses several attractive properties including anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, and antioxidant effects, with its efficacy being attributed to flavonoids. However, the flavonoid biosynthesis of T. hemsleyanum has rarely been studied. In this study, we investigated the flavonoid metabolism of T. hemsleyanum through metabolome analysis and transcriptome sequencing. The metabolomic results showed differences in the flavonoids of the leaves and root tubers of T. hemsleyanum. A total of 22 flavonoids was detected, and the concentrations of most flavonoids in the leaves were higher than those in the root tubers. Transcriptome analysis revealed that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the leaves and root tubers were enriched in photosynthesis-antenna proteins. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that the expression levels of chalcone isomerase (CHI) and UDP-glycose flavonoid glycosyltransferase (UFGT) were highly correlated with the concentrations of most flavonoids. Further, this study found that the photosynthesis-antenna proteins essentially contributed to the difference in the flavonoids in T. hemsleyanum. The gene expressions and concentrations of the total flavonoids of leaves and root tubers in Hangzhou, Jinhua, Lishui, and Taizhou in Zhejiang Province, China, showed that CHI (CL6715.Contig1_All, Unigene19431_All, CL921.Contig4_All) and UFGT (CL11556.Contig3_All, CL11775.Contig1_All) were the potential key genes of accumulation of most flavonoids in T. hemsleyanum.

Keywords: Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels et Gilg; UDP-glycose flavonoid glycosyltransferase; chalcone isomerase; flavonoid biosynthesis; key genes; photosynthesis-antenna proteins.

MeSH terms

Antioxidants
Flavonoids*
Metabolome
Metabolomics
Transcriptome*

Substances

Flavonoids
Antioxidants

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province (grant number 2021C02043), Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education project (grant number Y202147328), Forestry special fund of Zhejiang Provincial Forestry Bureau (grant number Lqly2020-03), Forestry Science and Technology Extension Foundation of Central Government Financial Project (grant number 2019TS08), and Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University School Development Fund (grant number 2022LFR111).