Abstract
Recent studies have indicated strong connections between epigenetic modulation and secondary metabolites in plants. It is vital to understand the roles of epigenetics in the production of secondary metabolites. In this study, the DNA demethylation agent 5-azacytidine (5-Az) was used on the hairy roots of the medicinal crop Salvia miltiorrhiza to investigate its effect on secondary metabolite production, gene expression, and methylation levels in gDNA and promoter regions. Our results showed that the contents of tanshinones in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots increased by 1.5 to 5 times, and most genes in the MEP pathway showed an upward trend. According to our NGS analysis, the methylation pattern in the copalyl diphosphate synthase (CPS) promoter was altered, and 51 out of 145 cytosines were demethylated during 5-Az treatment. A total of 36 different transcription factors (TFs) were identified in these demethylation sites. Among these TFs, NF-Y and MYB were frequently found in our results. This is the first report to demonstrate a possible mechanism of DNA methylation participating in tanshinone biosynthesis in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots by modulating the CPS promoter and TFs.
5-Azacytidine Increases Tanshinone Production in Salvia miltiorrhiza Hairy Roots Through Epigenetic Modulation
