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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Bioinformatics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1544303
Identification and expression analysis of PAL genes related to chlorogenic acid synthesis in Vaccinium dunalianum Wight
Provisionally accepted- Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China
Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is the first key enzyme in the metabolic pathway of phenylpropanoid. Chlorogenic acid (CGA) is an important secondary metabolite in the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway of plants. However, the role of the PAL gene in CGA biosynthesis in Vaccinium dunalianum Wight are still unclear. In this study, seven PAL genes (VdPAL1 ~VdPAL7) were cloned and analyzed through full-length transcriptome sequencing combined with Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) amplification in V. dunalianum. Bioinformatics analysis revealed that the seven VdPAL genes contained complete Open Reading Frames (1,860-2,148 bp) encoding hydrophilic proteins of 619-715 amino acids, with molecular weights ranging from 67.44 to 77.70 kDa. The VdPAL proteins contained the PLN02457 domain, with secondary structures predominantly composed of α-helices and tertiary structures exhibiting a characteristic "Hippocampus" conformation. Phylogenetic analysis grouped these VdPAL genes into three subfamilies: VdPAL1, VdPAL3 and VdPAL2/4/5/6/7 cluster. Reverse Transcription Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that the expression levels of VdPAL1 and VdPAL4/5/6/7 genes were significantly higher in tender leaves, mature leaves, flower buds, flowers, green fruits, red fruits, green fruit stems, and red fruit stems than that of VdPAL2 and VdPAL3. In the same tissue type, except for VdPAL2, the expression levels of the other six PAL genes were significantly higher in young tissues compared to mature tissues. The PAL gene family mediates CGA biosynthesis in V. dunalianum, with the combined expression of VdPAL1/2/4/5/6/7 showing positive correlation to CGA content across analyzed tissues. These results provide experimental evidence for understanding the composition, structural characteristics, and biological functions of PAL genes in V. dunalianum.
Keywords: Vaccinium dunalianum, Phenylalanine deaminase, Chlorogenic Acid, gene cloning, tissue expression
Received: 12 Dec 2024; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 An, Li, Chen, Zhao and Ding. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiuhua An, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China
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