Abstract

Licochalcone A (LCA) is a characteristic compound of Glycyrrhiza inflata with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumor activities. However, G. inflata produces LCA in low quantities that does not meet the market demand. In this study, we found that DNA methylation inhibitor 5-azacitidine (5-azaC) successfully improved the LCA contents in G. inflata seedlings. Transcriptome analysis revealed a series of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), including transcription factors such as MYB, ERF, WRKY, and some structural genes related to flavonoid biosynthesis. However, whole genome bisulfite sequencing (BS-seq) results showed little effect of the 5-azaC treatment on the alteration of DNA methylation on these genes, indicating the possibility that 5-azaC acts as a stimulus, but not an epigenetic modulation factor to improve the LCA content in G. inflata. Additionally, we applied the 5-azaC treatment to field plants and hairy roots and successfully increased the LCA contents in both cases. This research demonstrates the feasibility of 5-azaC treatments in future applications to improve plant production of LCA.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Notes/Citation Information

0176-1617/© 2023 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Funding Information

This work was supported by Biological Resources Program, Chinese Academy of Sciences (KFJ-BRP-007-017), Guangdong Provincial Special Fund for Modern Agriculture Industry Technology Innovation Teams (20230KJ148), the Foundation of Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany (2023B1212060046) & Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement (KF200203), South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Granted No: QNXM-02), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2020M682953 and 2021T140678).

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