Characterization of the horse chestnut genome reveals the evolution of aescin and aesculin biosynthesis
Horse chestnut ( Aesculus chinensis ) is an important medicinal tree that contains various bioactive compounds, such as aescin, barrigenol-type triterpenoid saponins (BAT), and aesculin, a glycosylated coumarin. Herein, we report a 470.02 Mb genome assembly and characterize an Aesculus -specific who...
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Published in | Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 6470 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
13.10.2023
Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Horse chestnut (
Aesculus chinensis
) is an important medicinal tree that contains various bioactive compounds, such as aescin, barrigenol-type triterpenoid saponins (BAT), and aesculin, a glycosylated coumarin. Herein, we report a 470.02 Mb genome assembly and characterize an
Aesculus
-specific whole-genome duplication event, which leads to the formation and duplication of two triterpenoid biosynthesis-related gene clusters (BGCs). We also show that
AcOCS6
,
AcCYP716A278
,
AcCYP716A275
, and
AcCSL1
genes within these two BGCs along with a seed-specific expressed
AcBAHD6
are responsible for the formation of aescin. Furthermore, we identify seven
Aesculus
-originated coumarin glycoside biosynthetic genes and achieve the de novo synthesis of aesculin in
E. coli
. Collinearity analysis shows that the collinear BGC segments can be traced back to early-diverging angiosperms, and the essential gene-encoding enzymes necessary for BAT biosynthesis are recruited before the splitting of
Aesculus
,
Acer
, and
Xanthoceras
. These findings provide insight on the evolution of gene clusters associated with medicinal tree metabolites.
Horse chestnut (
Aesculus chinensis
) is a tree species that can produce medicinal compounds such as aescin and aesculin. Here, the authors assemble its genome, identify key genes involved in the biosynthesis of these two group of compounds, and achieve the de novo synthesis of aesculin in
E. coli
. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 2041-1723 2041-1723 |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-023-42253-y |