生物通报道：来自新华网的消息，以中国医学科学院药用植物研究所为主体的研究团队发表了题为“454 EST analysis detects genes putatively involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis in Panax ginseng”的研究论文，这项研究发现了几乎全部的参与人参皂苷骨架合成的酶基因，并发掘出数百个可能参与皂苷骨架修饰的潜在基因。这一研究成果公布在国际著名植物学期刊Plant Cell Reports上。

人参为“百草之王”，吉林省是中国乃至世界的人参主产区，人参产量占世界人参总产量的70%。吉林省王儒林省长多次突出强调发展科技人参的重要性，指出“科技对推动人参产业振兴起着至关重要的作用，关系整个人参产业的兴衰成败”，要求“把科技作为振兴人参产业的切入点和突破口”。

在文章中，研究人员以中国人参为实验材料，利用新一代高通量测序技术对人参根的转录组进行了测序，共产生20多万条高质量cDNA序列，经序列拼接后获得约3.1万条独立基因，其中69.9％的基因获得了功能注释。通过生物信息学分析，发现了几乎全部的参与人参皂苷骨架合成的酶基因，并发掘出数百个可能参与皂苷骨架修饰的潜在基因，相关基因的功能验证工作正在进行中。据悉，该研究团队还进行了人参根、茎、叶和花的转录组测序。上述研究成果为通过分子育种获得高皂苷含量的人参新品种及通过代谢工程生物合成人参皂苷奠定了坚实的基础。

这项研究由吉林省重大科技攻关项目资助，自2010年4月，由吉林省政府与中国医学科学院药用植物研究所、中国农业科学院特产研究所、天津中医药大学等多家单位发起的“中国人参基因组计划”启动以来，中国人参基因组研究已取得了显著成果，并快速推动人参基础研究和应用研究的深入发展，彰显出科技对人参产业振兴的重要作用。

（生物通：万纹）

原文摘要：

454 EST analysis detects genes putatively involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis in Panax ginseng

Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer is one of the most highly valued medicinal plants in the world. To analyze the transcriptome of P. ginseng and discover the genes involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis, cDNAs derived from the total RNA of 11-year-old, wood-grown P. ginseng roots were analyzed by 454 sequencing. A total of 217,529 high quality reads (expressed sequence tags, ESTs), with an average length of 409 bases, were generated from a one-quarter run to yield 31,741 unique sequences. The majority (20,198; 63.6%) of the unique sequences were annotated using BLAST similarity searches. A total of 16,810 and 16,577 unique sequences were assigned to functional classifications and biochemical pathways based on Gene Ontology analysis and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes assignment, respectively. Nine genes involved in the biosynthesis of ginsenoside skeletons and many candidate genes putatively responsible for modification of the skeletons, including 133 cytochrome P450s and 235 glycosyltransferases, were identified. From these candidates, six transcripts encoding UDP-glycosyltransferases that were most likely to be involved in ginsenoside biosynthesis were selected. These results open a new avenue by which to explore and exploit biosynthetic and biochemical properties that may lead to drug improvement. These 454 ESTs will provide the foundation for further functional genomic research into the traditional herb P. ginseng or its closely related species.
 

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