A draft genome for Aquilaria agallocha and a study of agarwood secondary metabolism with respect to cucurbitacin

• Main Authors: Chuan-Hung Chen, 陳筌鴻
• Other Authors: 陳榮芳
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2014
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/86465979396769627835

博士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 植物科學研究所 === 103 === Background The resinous portions of Aquilaria plants, called agarwood, have long been used as medicine and incense. In Asia, agarwood is a kind of Chinese herbal medicine. Many terpene derivatives of agarwood are known to have medicinal value to humans, including compounds that have been shown to elicit sedative effects and exhibit anti-cancer properties. However, little is known about the genome, transcriptome, small RNA, DNA methylation pattern, and the biosynthetic pathways responsible for producing such secondary metabolites in agarwood. Results In this project, we present draft genome for Aquilaria agallocha and a putative regulation mechanism for cucurbitacin E and I, compounds with known medicinal value, from in vitro Aquilaria agallocha agarwood. DNA and RNA data are utilized to annotate many genes and protein functions in the draft genome. The expression changes for cucurbitacin E and I are shown to be consistent with known responses of A. agallocha to methyl jasmonate and light condition and a set of homologous genes related to cucurbitacin bio-synthesis is presented and validated through qRT-PCR. Conclusions This study is the first attempt to identify cucurbitacin E and I from in vitro agarwood , the first draft genome, small RNAs data, and DNA methylation pattern for any species of Aquilaria. The results of this study will aid in future investigations of secondary metabolite pathways in Aquilaria and other non-model medicinal plants.