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The organ-specific expression of terpene synthase genes contributes to the terpene hydrocarbon composition of chamomile essential oils.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The essential oil of chamomile, one of the oldest and agronomically most important medicinal plant species in Europe, has significant antiphlogistic, spasmolytic and antimicrobial activities. It is rich in chamazulene, a pharmaceutically active compound spontaneously formed during steam distillation from the sesquiterpene lactone matricine. Chamomile oil also contains sesquiterpene alcohols and hydrocarbons which are produced by the action of terpene synthases (TPS), the key enzymes in constructing terpene carbon skeletons. RESULTS: Here, we present the identification and characterization of five TPS enzymes contributing to terpene biosynthesis in chamomile (Matricaria recutita). Four of these enzymes were exclusively expressed in above-ground organs and produced the common terpene hydrocarbons (-)-(E)-?-caryophyllene (MrTPS1), (+)-germacrene A (MrTPS3), (E)-?-ocimene (MrTPS4) and (-)-germacrene D (MrTPS5). A fifth TPS, the multiproduct enzyme MrTPS2, was mainly expressed in roots and formed several Asteraceae-specific tricyclic sesquiterpenes with (-)-?-isocomene being the major product. The TPS transcript accumulation patterns in different organs of chamomile were consistent with the abundance of the corresponding TPS products isolated from these organs suggesting that the spatial regulation of TPS gene expression qualitatively contribute to terpene composition. CONCLUSIONS: The terpene synthases characterized in this study are involved in the organ-specific formation of essential oils in chamomile. While the products of MrTPS1, MrTPS2, MrTPS4 and MrTPS5 accumulate in the oils without further chemical alterations, (+)-germacrene A produced by MrTPS3 accumulates only in trace amounts, indicating that it is converted into another compound like matricine. Thus, MrTPS3, but also the other TPS genes, are good markers for further breeding of chamomile cultivars rich in pharmaceutically active essential oils.

SUBMITTER: Irmisch S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3423072 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The organ-specific expression of terpene synthase genes contributes to the terpene hydrocarbon composition of chamomile essential oils.

Irmisch Sandra S Krause Sandra T ST Kunert Grit G Gershenzon Jonathan J Degenhardt Jörg J Köllner Tobias G TG

BMC plant biology 20120608

<h4>Background</h4>The essential oil of chamomile, one of the oldest and agronomically most important medicinal plant species in Europe, has significant antiphlogistic, spasmolytic and antimicrobial activities. It is rich in chamazulene, a pharmaceutically active compound spontaneously formed during steam distillation from the sesquiterpene lactone matricine. Chamomile oil also contains sesquiterpene alcohols and hydrocarbons which are produced by the action of terpene synthases (TPS), the key e ...[more]

PMID: 22682202

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Project description:Plant essential oils are complex mixtures of volatile organic compounds, which play indispensable roles in the environment, for the plant itself, as well as for humans. The potential biological information stored in essential oil composition data can provide an insight into the silent language of plants, and the roles of these chemical emissions in defense, communication and pollinator attraction. In order to decipher volatile profile patterns from a global perspective, we have developed the ESSential OIL DataBase (EssOilDB), a continually updated, freely available electronic database designed to provide knowledge resource for plant essential oils, that enables one to address a multitude of queries on volatile profiles of native, invasive, normal or stressed plants, across taxonomic clades, geographical locations and several other biotic and abiotic influences. To our knowledge, EssOilDB is the only database in the public domain providing an opportunity for context based scientific research on volatile patterns in plants. EssOilDB presently contains 123?041 essential oil records spanning a century of published reports on volatile profiles, with data from 92 plant taxonomic families, spread across diverse geographical locations all over the globe. We hope that this huge repository of VOCs will facilitate unraveling of the true significance of volatiles in plants, along with creating potential avenues for industrial applications of essential oils. We also illustrate the use of this database in terpene biology and show how EssOilDB can be used to complement data from computational genomics to gain insights into the diversity and variability of terpenoids in the plant kingdom. EssOilDB would serve as a valuable information resource, for students and researchers in plant biology, in the design and discovery of new odor profiles, as well as for entrepreneurs--the potential for generating consumer specific scents being one of the most attractive and interesting topics in the cosmetic industry. Database URL: http://nipgr.res.in/Essoildb/

Dataset Information

The organ-specific expression of terpene synthase genes contributes to the terpene hydrocarbon composition of chamomile essential oils.

Publications

The organ-specific expression of terpene synthase genes contributes to the terpene hydrocarbon composition of chamomile essential oils.

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