The saponins found in Panax japonicus, a traditional medicinal herb in Asia, exhibit high degrees of structural and functional similarity. In this study, metabolite analysis revealed that oleanolic acid-type and dammarane-type saponins were distributed unevenly in three tissues (rhizome_Y, rhizome_O, and secRoot) of P. japonicus. Single-molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing and next generation sequencing (NGS) data revealed distinct and tissue-specific transcriptomic patterns relating to the production of these two types of saponins. In the co-expression network and hierarchical clustering analyses, one 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMGR) and two 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS) etc. transcripts were found to be key genes associated with the biosynthesis of oleanolic acidand dammarane-type saponins in P. japonicus, respectively. In addition, cytochrome p450 (CYP) and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) family proteins that serve as regulators of saponin biosynthesis-related genes were also found to exhibit tissue-specific expression patterns. Together these results offer a comprehensive metabolomic and transcriptomic overview of P. japonicus.

在亚洲传统药材人参中发现的皂苷具有高度的结构和功能相似性。在这项研究中，代谢物的分析表明，齐墩果酸型和达玛烷型皂苷中的三种组织（rhizome_Y，rhizome_O和secRoot）不均匀分布P.刺参. 单分子实时 (SMRT) 测序和下一代测序 (NGS) 数据揭示了与这两种皂苷生产相关的不同的组织特异性转录组学模式。在共表达网络和层次聚类分析中，发现一种 3-羟基-3-甲基戊二酰辅酶 A 还原酶 (HMGR) 和两种 1-脱氧-D-木酮糖-5-磷酸合酶 (DXS) 等转录物是关键分别与P. japonicus中齐墩果酸和达玛烷型皂苷生物合成相关的基因。此外，细胞色素p450 (CYP) 和 UDP-葡萄糖醛酸转移酶 (UGT) 家族蛋白作为皂苷生物合成相关基因的调节剂也被发现表现出组织特异性表达模式。这些结果共同提供了日本对虾的综合代谢组学和转录组学概述。