近日，中國科學(xué)院北京基因組研究所重點實驗室于軍研究員及其團隊同中國中醫(yī)科學(xué)院中藥研究所開展合作,，利用新一代高通量測序平臺（Illumina's GA平臺）分別對兩種不同藥效金銀花品種（FLJ和rFLJ）的三個不同階段的基因表達進行了測序分析,，相關(guān)研究成果在《BMC Genomics》雜志發(fā)表。
金銀花屬忍冬科,，它作為抗炎免疫的中藥材有著悠久的歷史,，并且具有宣散風(fēng)熱，清解血毒等功效,。但金銀花的化學(xué)質(zhì)量較不穩(wěn)定，不利于對其進行質(zhì)量評估,。此次科研人員通過對其開展基因組相關(guān)分析,，不僅得到金銀花不同花期的轉(zhuǎn)錄表達圖譜，同時還建立了相關(guān)的酶庫,。研究中,，科研人員整合轉(zhuǎn)錄組與代謝途徑分析，揭示這一體系是否用于評價金銀花的活性成分積累及其品質(zhì),。并根據(jù)進化分析揭示了金銀花直系同源和旁系同源特定功能分化以及控制活性成分的基因功能差異,。
以上工作的開展，為評估金銀花質(zhì)量金銀花中草藥的研究及其藥效評估奠定了重要的科學(xué)基礎(chǔ),。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1186/1471-2164-13-195
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Genetic variation and metabolic pathway intricacy govern the active compound content and quality of the Chinese medicinal plant Lonicera japonica thunb
Yuan Yuan, Lipu Song, Minghui Li, Guiming Liu, Yanan Chu, Luyu Ma, Yuanyuan Zhou, Xiao Wang, Wei Gao, Shuangshuang Qin, Jun Yu, Xumin Wang and Luqi Huang
Background Traditional Chinese medicine uses various herbs for the treatment of various diseases for thousands of years and it is now time to assess the characteristics and effectiveness of these medicinal plants based on modern genetic and molecular tools. The herb Flos Lonicerae Japonicae (FLJ or Lonicera japonica Thunb.) is used as an anti-inflammatory agent but the chemical quality of FLJ and its medicinal efficacy has not been consistent. Here, we analyzed the transcriptomes and metabolic pathways to evaluate the active medicinal compounds in FLJ and hope that this approach can be used for a variety of medicinal herbs in the future. Results We assess transcriptomic differences between FLJ and L. japonica Thunb. var. chinensis (Watts) (rFLJ), which may explain the variable medicinal effects. We acquired transcriptomic data (over 100 million reads) from the two herbs, using RNA-seq method and the Illumina GAII platform. The transcriptomic profiles contain over 6,000 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for each of the three flower development stages from FLJ, as well as comparable amount of ESTs from the rFLJ flower bud. To elucidate enzymatic divergence on biosynthetic pathways between the two varieties, we correlated genes and their expression profiles to known metabolic activities involving the relevant active compounds, including phenolic acids, flavonoids, terpenoids, and fatty acids. We also analyzed the diversification of genes that process the active compounds to distinguish orthologs and paralogs together with the pathways concerning biosynthesis of phenolic acid and its connections with other related pathways. Conclusions Our study provides both an initial description of gene expression profiles in flowers of FLJ and its counterfeit rFLJ and the enzyme pool that can be used to evaluate FLJ quality. Detailed molecular-level analyses allow us to decipher the relationship between metabolic pathways involved in processing active medicinal compounds and gene expressions of their processing enzymes. Our evolutionary analysis revealed specific functional divergence of orthologs and paralogs, which lead to variation in gene functions that govern the profile of active compounds.
