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Exploring genes involved in benzoic acid biosynthesis in the Populus davidiana transcriptome and their transcriptional activity upon methyl jasmonate treatment

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Abstract

Benzoic acids (BAs) are important structural elements in a wide variety of essential compounds and natural products, and play crucial roles in plant fitness. BA is a precursor of diverse benzenoid compounds, including the hormone salicylic acid (SA) and the aglycone moiety of salicin, which is particularly important in the Salicaceae family. The biosynthetic pathways leading to BA formation in plants are largely unknown. Recently, the CoA-dependent β-oxidative BA biosynthesis pathway, which occurs in peroxisomes, has been characterized in petunia. The core of this pathway is cinnamic acid → cinnamoyl-CoA → 3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropanoyl-CoA → 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanoyl-CoA → benzoyl-CoA. Here, we used 454 pyrosequencing to analyze the transcriptome of Populus davidiana and isolate putative genes involved in BA biosynthesis. De novo assembly generated 57,322 unique sequences, including 15,217 contigs and 42,105 singletons. From the unique sequences, we selected six genes exhibiting high similarity to genes encoding L-phenylalanine ammonia lyase, cinnamate:CoA ligase, cinnamoyl-CoA hydratase-dehydrogenase, 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase, benzoyl-CoA:benzyl alcohol O-benzoyltransferase, and benzaldehyde dehydrogenase. Each of these enzymes might be involved in BA biosynthesis. Real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis revealed that these six genes were highly transcribed in the aerial organs of P. davidiana, particularly in leaves. Treating the leaves of in vitro cultured plants with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) strongly enhanced the mRNA accumulation of all 6 genes, and this treatment also clearly enhanced the accumulation of BA, SA, salicyl alcohol, benzyl alcohol, benzyl benzoate, and benzaldehyde but not salicin. Our study shows that P. davidiana may possess a CoA-dependent β-oxidative BA synthesis pathway. We also identified a relationship between the transcription of these genes and the accumulation of benzenoids, including BA and SA, which are highly responsive to the defense signaling molecule (MeJA).

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Abbreviations

BALDH:

Benzaldehyde dehydrogenase

BEBT:

Benzoyl-CoA:salicyl alcohol O-benzoyltransferase

CHD:

Cinnamoyl-CoA hydratase-dehydrogenase

CNL:

Cinnamate:CoA ligase

KAT:

3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

PAL:

Phenylalanine ammonia lyase

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant (S111414 L070110) from the Post-Genome Multi-Ministry Genome Project (Ministry of Health and Welfare).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forest Resources, College of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 200-701, South Korea

    Seong-Bum Park, Jong Youn Kim, Jung Yeon Han, Chang-Ho Ahn & Yong Eui Choi

  2. Division of Forest Biotechnology, Korea Forest Research Institute, Suwon, 441-847, South Korea

    Eung-Jun Park

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  1. Seong-Bum Park
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  2. Jong Youn Kim
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  3. Jung Yeon Han
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  4. Chang-Ho Ahn
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Correspondence to Yong Eui Choi.

Electronic supplementary material

Fig. S1

The mass spectrometry spectra of benzaldehyde (A) at a retention time of 8.61 min, benzyl alcohol (B) at a retention time of 12.02 min, BA (C) at a retention time of 17.01, salicyl alcohol (D) at a retention time of 19.17 min, SA (E) at a retention time of 20.44 min, benzyl benzoated (F) at a retention time of 32.73 min, salicin (G) at a retention time of 52.55 min in leaf extracts of Populus davidiana. The inserts show the spectra of the authentic standards. (GIF 282 kb)

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Park, SB., Kim, J.Y., Han, J.Y. et al. Exploring genes involved in benzoic acid biosynthesis in the Populus davidiana transcriptome and their transcriptional activity upon methyl jasmonate treatment. J Chem Ecol 43, 1097–1108 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-017-0903-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-017-0903-3

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