Project description:In the past two decades public interest in herbal products has increased significantly in Europe, especially in the plant-based products from non-European traditions. Eleutherococcus senticosus has been used for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, anemia, and rheumatoid arthritis. The Eleutherococcus senticosus fruits intractum was examined for the content of phenolic acids (LC-ESI-MS/MS), minerals (AAS), TPC, and TFC (spectrophotometric assay). The antioxidant activity was determined using free radical scavenging assay and TLC-DB-DPPH? dot-blot test. An anti-Hyal activity was evaluated by the spectrophotometric assay method. Cytotoxicity towards HL-60, HL-60/MX1, HL-60/MX2, CEM/C1, and CCRF/CEM leukemic cell lines was done using trypan blue test. Among eight phenolic acids, trans-caffeic acid was found in the largest amount (41.2?mg/g?DE). The intractum presented a high amount of macroelements (Ca, Mg, K; 1750, 1300, and 21000?mg/kg) and microelements (Fe, Mn; 32.7, 54.3?mg/kg), respectively. The content of TPC and TFC was 130 and 92?mg/g DE, respectively. The intractum showed anti-Hyal activity (2.16-60%) and an antioxidant capacity (EC50; 52??g/mL). The intractum most strongly inhibited the growth of HL-60, HL-60/MX1, and CCRF/CEM. A better understanding of the intractum health benefits is important in order to increase its utility and enrich dietary sources of health promoting compounds.
Project description:BACKGROUND:Eleutherococcus senticosus, Siberian ginseng, is a highly valued woody medicinal plant belonging to the family Araliaceae. E. senticosus produces a rich variety of saponins such as oleanane-type, noroleanane-type, 29-hydroxyoleanan-type, and lupane-type saponins. Genomic or transcriptomic approaches have not been used to investigate the saponin biosynthetic pathway in this plant. RESULT:In this study, de novo sequencing was performed to select candidate genes involved in the saponin biosynthetic pathway. A half-plate 454 pyrosequencing run produced 627,923 high-quality reads with an average sequence length of 422 bases. De novo assembly generated 72,811 unique sequences, including 15,217 contigs and 57,594 singletons. Approximately 48,300 (66.3%) unique sequences were annotated using BLAST similarity searches. All of the mevalonate pathway genes for saponin biosynthesis starting from acetyl-CoA were isolated. Moreover, 206 reads of cytochrome P450 (CYP) and 145 reads of uridine diphosphate glycosyltransferase (UGT) sequences were isolated. Based on methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment and real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis, 3 CYPs and 3 UGTs were finally selected as candidate genes involved in the saponin biosynthetic pathway. CONCLUSIONS:The identified sequences associated with saponin biosynthesis will facilitate the study of the functional genomics of saponin biosynthesis and genetic engineering of E. senticosus.