Transcriptomic profiling of Melilotus albus near-isogenic lines contrasting for coumarin content

Abstract

Coumarin and its derivatives are widely used as fragrances in industrial products and have medical value. The goal of the present study was to discover genes and pathways related to coumarin biosynthesis in Melilotus albus using transcriptome analysis. The genes of five M. albus near-isogenic lines (NILs) that had different coumarin content and β-glucosidase activity according to the investigation of pedigree were quantified and then analysed by RNA-Seq. Using transcriptome analysis, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified in two pairwise comparisons that differed in coumarin content as well as in two pairwise comparisons that differed in β-glucosidase activity. Gene expression pattern analysis suggested similar transcriptional trends in the genotypes with the same coumarin levels. Furthermore, the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) database of DEGs was used to identify functional pathways associated with coumarin biosynthesis. We identified 111 unigenes, with several DEGs among them possibly being related to coumarin synthesis pathways. Unigenes encoding a hexokinase, an abscisic acid receptor, a phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and two peroxidases particularly showed correspondence with the coumarin content of different genotypes. These results will contribute to a better understanding of the coumarin biosynthesis in M. albus.

A novel honey-based product enriched with coumarin from Melilotus flowers

“…Analyzing the HPLC chromatograms obtained (not shown) no other derivatives of coumarin were observed, excluding o-coumaric acid considered to be a precursor of coumarin [22]. As expected, o-coumaric acid was found in the highest concentration depending on the herb dose used (from 4.07 to 25.15 mg/kg).…”

“…The o-coumaric acid content was highly correlated with the coumarin concentration (r = 0.97) as a consequence of metabolite-pathway. Although coumarin is a well-known compound, its biosynthetic mechanism based on the expression of specific genes has been clarified recently [22].…”

Synthesis and evaluation of coumarin derivatives against human lung cancer cell lines

“…Many compounds that contain the coumarin moiety exhibit useful and diverse pharmaceutical and biological activities, and there has been a growing interest in their synthesis ( 10 – 12 ). Some of these coumarin derivatives have been found useful in photochemotherapy, antitumor and anti-HIV therapy, as CNS-stimulants, antibacterial, anticoagulant, antifungal, and antioxidant agents, and as dyes ( 13 – 15 ). Natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic coumarins are useful substances in drug research.…”

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“…Many compounds containing coumarin moiety exhibit useful and diverse biological activity and in recent years, there has been a growing interest in their synthesis 3,4 . Some of the coumarin derivatives have been found to be useful as dyes, CNS-stimulant, antibacterial 5,6 , anticoagulants 7,8,9 and in photochemotherapy, antitumor and anti-HIV therapy 10,11 .…”