Centaurium erythraea, used as medical plant from the earliest times, is an immense depot of quite rare bioactive compounds. Secoiridoids (sweroside, swertiamarin, and gentiopicrin) and xanthones (methylbellidifolin and decussatin) are predominant bioactive compounds in C. erythraea. The present study aims at providing new insights into how the content of these bioactive principles can be related with plant ploidy level by characterizing possible differences in their biosynthesis and accumulation between diploid and tetraploid genotypes from both spatial and temporal aspects. In general, shoots are determined as the major site of secoiridoids’ and xanthones’ accumulation, whose ratio vary during the development. Genes involved in iridoid and xanthone metabolic pathways were found to be coordinately regulated at the transcriptional level both during the development and among organs. Biosynthetic gene expression levels were found highly correlated with the content of major compounds from these two classes. Diversification in chemical profiles between tetraploid and diploid genotypes may result from the expression difference between homologous loci correspondent to several key biosynthetic genes, which trigger changes in the two metabolic routes. Thus, enhanced expression of genes coding for geraniol synthase (GES), 8-hydroxygeraniol oxidoreductase (8HGO), and 7-deoxyloganic acid hydrolase (7DLH2) is strongly associated with intensive production of iridoids. Interestingly, transcript levels of beta-glucosidase (CebGLU), a candidate to catalyze the first step in the secoiridoid catabolism, is significantly positively correlated with the content of major secoiridoids. Elevated expression of genes coding for benzophenone synthase (BS) and 3-hydroxybenzoate:CoA ligase (3HBL) appear to account for enhanced production of hexa-substituted xanthones. Regarding content of iridoids and xanthones, a diploid genotype appeared to be more productive than a tetraploid genotype under controlled in vitro conditions, therewithal displaying significantly higher biomass.

Centaurium erythraea最早被用作药用植物，是非常稀有的生物活性化合物的巨大仓库。Secoiridoids (sweroside, swertiamarin, and gentiopicrin) 和xanthones (methylbellidifolin and decussatin) 是C. erythraea中主要的生物活性化合物。本研究旨在通过从空间和时间方面表征二倍体和四倍体基因型之间生物合成和积累的可能差异，为这些生物活性成分的含量如何与植物倍性水平相关提供新的见解。一般来说，芽被确定为secioridoids'和xanthones积累的主要场所，它们的比例在发育过程中会发生变化。环烯醚萜相关基因和黄酮代谢途径被发现在发育过程和器官之间的转录水平上受到协调调节。发现生物合成基因表达水平与这两类主要化合物的含量高度相关。四倍体和二倍体基因型之间化学谱的多样化可能是由于与几个关键生物合成基因相对应的同源基因座之间的表达差异导致了两种代谢途径的变化。因此，编码香叶醇合酶 ( GES )、8-羟基香叶醇氧化还原酶 ( 8HGO ) 和 7-脱氧木糖酸水解酶 ( 7DLH2) 与环烯醚萜的密集生产密切相关。有趣的是，β-葡糖苷酶 ( CebGLU ) 的转录水平是催化类环烯醚萜分解代谢第一步的候选物，它与主要的类环烯醚萜含量呈显着正相关。编码二苯甲酮合酶 ( BS ) 和 3-羟基苯甲酸酯：CoA 连接酶 ( 3HBL )的基因表达升高似乎是六取代呫吨酮产量增加的原因。关于环烯醚萜和呫吨酮的含量，在受控的体外条件下，二倍体基因型似乎比四倍体基因型更具生产力，因此显示出显着更高的生物量。