Abstract

Uncaria rhynchophylla is an evergreen vine plant, belonging to the Rubiaceae family, that is rich in terpenoid indole alkaloids (TIAs) that have therapeutic effects on hypertension and Alzheimer’s disease. GATA transcription factors (TF) are a class of transcription regulators that participate in the light response regulation, chlorophyll synthesis, and metabolism, with the capability to bind to GATA cis-acting elements in the promoter region of target genes. Currently the charactertics of GATA TFs in U. rhynchophylla and how different light qualities affect the expression of GATA and key enzyme genes, thereby affecting the changes in U. rhynchophylla alkaloids have not been investigated. In this study, 25 UrGATA genes belonging to four subgroups were identified based on genome-wide analysis. Intraspecific collinearity analysis revealed that only segmental duplications were identified among the UrGATA gene family. Collinearity analysis of GATA genes between U. rhynchophylla and four representative plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana, Oryza sativa, Coffea Canephora, and Catharanthus roseus was also performed. U. rhynchophylla seedlings grown in either red lights or under reduced light intensity had altered TIAs content after 21 days. Gene expression analysis reveal a complex pattern of expression from the 25 UrGATA genes as well as a number of key TIA enzyme genes. UrGATA7 and UrGATA8 were found to have similar expression profiles to key enzyme TIA genes in response to altered light treatments, implying that they may be involved in the regulation TIA content. In this research, we comprehensively analyzed the UrGATA TFs, and offered insight into the involvement of UrGATA TFs from U. rhynchophylla in TIAs biosynthesis.

中文翻译：

---

钩藤GATA转录因子家族全基因组鉴定及不同光质对萜类吲哚生物碱积累的影响

摘要

钩藤是茜草科常绿藤本植物，富含萜类吲哚生物碱（TIA），对高血压和阿尔茨海默病有治疗作用。 GATA转录因子（TF）是一类参与光响应调节、叶绿素合成和代谢的转录调节因子，能够与靶基因启动子区的GATA顺式作用元件结合。目前关于钩藤中GATA TF的特征以及不同光质如何影响GATA和关键酶基因的表达，从而影响钩藤生物碱的变化尚未有研究。在这项研究中，基于全基因组分析，鉴定出了属于四个亚组的25 个UrGATA基因。种内共线性分析表明，在UrGATA基因家族中仅发现了片段重复。还对钩藤和拟南芥、水稻、咖啡和长春花四种代表性植物的GATA基因进行了共线性分析。 21 天后，在红光或弱光强度下生长的钩藤幼苗的 TIA 含量发生了变化。基因表达分析揭示了 25 个UrGATA基因以及许多关键 TIA 酶基因的复杂表达模式。发现UrGATA7和UrGATA8与关键酶 TIA 基因响应改变的光处理具有相似的表达谱，这意味着它们可能参与调节 TIA 含量。在本研究中，我们全面分析了 UrGATA TF，并深入了解了钩藤UrGATA TF 在 TIA 生物合成中的参与。