The sage genome provides insight into the evolutionary dynamics of diterpene biosynthesis gene cluster in plants

Abstract

Summary The widely cultivated medicinal and ornamental plant sage (Salvia officinalis L.) is an evergreen shrub of the Lamiaceae family, native to the Mediterranean. We assembled a high-quality sage genome of 480 Mb on seven chromosomes, and identified a biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) encoding two pairs of diterpene synthases (diTPSs) that, together with the cytochromes P450 (CYPs) genes located inside and outside the cluster, form two expression cascades responsible for the shoot and root diterpenoids, respectively, thus extending BGC functionality from co-regulation to orchestrating metabolite production in different organs. Phylogenomic analysis indicates that the Salvia clades diverged in the early Miocene. In East Asia, most Salvia species are herbaceous and accumulate diterpenoids in storage roots. Notably, in Chinese sage S. miltiorrhiza, the diterpene BGC has contracted and the shoot cascade has been lost. Our data provide genomic insights of micro-evolution of growth type-associated patterning of specialized metabolite production in plants.

Year of Publication
2022
Journal
Cell Reports
Volume
40
Number of Pages
111236
ISSN Number
2211-1247
URL
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124722010531
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.111236
PMID
35977487