Comparative physicochemical, hormonal, transcriptomic and proteomic analyses provide new insights into the formation mechanism of two chemotypes of Pogostemon cablin

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 9; p. e0290402
• Main Authors: Zhang, Hongyi, Ou, Xiaohua, Chen, Wenyi, Zeng, Qing, Yan, Yaling, He, Mengling, Yan, Hanjing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco Public Library of Science 22-09-2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Abscisic acid; Acids; Bioengineering; Biology and Life Sciences; Biosynthesis; Carbohydrate metabolism; Carotenoids; Chlorophyll; Cosmetics; Cytokinins; Down-regulation; Gene expression; Genes; Gibberellins; Glucosidase; Identification and classification; Instrument industry; Ions; Jasmonic acid; Lamiaceae; Lipoxygenase; Mass spectrometry; Medicinal plants; Medicine, Chinese; Metabolism; Metabolites; Patchoulol; Photosynthesis; Physical Sciences; Physiology; Phytohormones; Plant hormones; Pogostemon cablin; Porphyrins; Properties; Protein turnover; Proteins; Proteomes; Proteomics; Scientific imaging; Sucrose; Transcriptomes; Transcriptomics; Zeatin; Zeatin O-xylosyltransferase; α-Amylase; β-Glucosidase; China; United States; United States > US
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290402

Patchouli (Pogostemon cablin) is an aromatic plant, and its oil has diverse applications in medicine, food, and cosmetics. Patchouli alcohol is the principal bioactive constituent of its volatile oil. In China, patchouli is typically categorized into two types: patchoulol-type (PA-type) and pogostone-type (PO-type). The study evaluated physiological and biochemical indicators, phytohormone metabolites and conducted transcriptome and proteome analyses on both two chemotypes. The PA-type exhibited higher levels of chlorophyll a, b, and carotenoids than the PO-type. In total, 35 phytohormone metabolites representing cytokinin, abscisic acid, gibberellin, jasmonic acid, and their derivatives were identified using UPLC-MS/MS, 10 of which displayed significant differences, mainly belong to cytokinins and jasmonates. Transcriptome analysis identified 4,799 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), while proteome analysis identified 150 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). Regarding the transcriptome results, the DEGs of the PO-type showed significant downregulation in the pathways of photosynthesis, photosynthesis-antenna protein, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism, carotenoid biosynthesis, sesquiterpene and triterpenoid biosynthesis, and starch and sucrose metabolism, but upregulation in the pathway of zeatin synthesis. A combination of transcriptome and proteome analyses revealed that the DEGs and DEPs of lipoxygenase (LOX2), [beta]-glucosidase, and patchouli synthase (PTS) were collectively downregulated, while the DEGs and DEPs of Zeatin O-xylosyltransferase (ZOX1) and [alpha]-amylase (AMY) were jointly upregulated in the PO-type compared to the PA-type. Differential levels of phytohormones, variations in photosynthetic efficiency, and differential expression of genes in the sesquiterpene synthesis pathway may account for the morphological and major active component differences between the two chemotypes of patchouli. The findings of this study offer novel perspectives on the underlying mechanisms contributing to the formation of the two patchouli chemotypes.