MAPKK2/4/5/7-MAPK3-JAZs modulate phenolic acid biosynthesis in Salvia miltiorrhiza. (July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xie, Yongfeng; Ding, Meiling; Yin, Xuecui; Wang, Guanfeng; Zhang, Bin; Chen, Lingxiang; Ma, Pengda; Dong, Juane
• Is Part Of: Phytochemistry. Volume 199(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-07
• Subjects: Salvia miltiorrhiza -- Lamiaceae -- Family -- Phenolic acids -- MAPK cascades -- JAZ -- Regulation; Botanical chemistry -- Periodicals; Biochemistry -- Periodicals; Botany -- Periodicals; Chimie végétale -- Périodiques; 572.2
• DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2022.113177
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-9422

Abstract

Abstract: Phenolic acids are the major bioactive metabolites produced in Salvia miltiorrhiza, a traditional Chinese medicine called Danshen. Many phytohormone elicitor treatments induce phenolic acid biosynthesis, even though the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Expression pattern analysis showed that SmMAPK3 was highly expressed in leaves, and SmMAPK3 was significantly induced by salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (JA). Bioinformatics analysis revealed that SmMAPK3 belongs to group A and contains a TEY motif in the activation loop together with three conserved regions (P-loop, C-loop and CD-domain). A previous study speculated that SmMAPK3 is likely a positive regulator in the biosynthesis of phenolic acids in S. miltiorrhiza . In this study, overexpression of SmMAPK3 increased phenolic acid biosynthetic gene expression and enhanced the accumulation of phenolic acids in S. miltiorrhiza plantlets. Yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) analysis and firefly luciferase complementation imaging (LCI) assays revealed that SmMAPKK2/4/5/7-SmMAPK3-SmJAZs form a cascade that regulates the accumulation of phenolic acids. In summary, this work deepens our understanding of the posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms of phenolic acid biosynthesis and sheds new light on metabolic engineering in S. miltiorrhiza . Graphical abstract: To response the treatment of SA and MeJA, SmMAPK3, the substrate of SmMAPKK2/4/5/7, reduces the stability of transcription repressor SmJAZs/IAAs via phosphorylation and consequently enhances the expression of secondary metabolite genes in S. miltiorrhiza . The SmMAPKK2/4/5/7-SmMAPK3-SmJAZs cascade plays a crucial regulatory role in phenolic acids biosynthesis. Image 1 Highlights: SmMAPK3 responses to phytohormone SA and MeJA. Overexpression of SmMAPK3 upregulates phenolic acid biosynthesis. SmMAPK3 interacts with upstream kinase SmMAPKK2/4/5/7 and downstream transcription repressor JAZs. The SmMAPKK2/4/5/7-SmMAPK3-SmJAZs cascade regulates secondary metabolism.