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Published on: March 8, 2024
Whole-genome sequencing revealed genetic basis of diterpenoid alkaloid difference in Aconitum vilmorinianum
Yi Dai1,2, Yilei Wu3, Dake Zhao4
1Pediatric Research Institute, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Child Neurodevelopment and Cognitive Disorders, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Child Development and Disorders, Chongqing, 400014, China.
Background:
Aconitum is an important medicinal genus widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, which produces types of diterpenoid alkaloids (DA) among different species. We performed whole genome resequencing (WGS) research in Aconitum spp., and wish to find diterpenoid alkaloids related genetic variations.
Results:
In this study, we re-sequenced 150 Aconitum vilmorinianum (A. vilmorinianum) including 102 from the cultivation garden and 48 from the wild, as well as nine wild samples of Aconitum weixiense. The intra-population differentiation of A. vilmorinianum was detected by evolutionary tree and population structure inference. We identify 47 DA biosynthesis genes that might be highly associated with the specialization of DA based on whole-genome resequencing. Of 616 significant SNPs and 105 significant InDels among these genes could be developed as polymorphic molecular markers capable of effectively recognizing A. vilmorinianum from A. weixiense. Furthermore, the significant SNPs and InDels were almost homozygous alternates in A. weixiense, whereas they tended to be homozygous references in the A. vilmorinianum.
Conclusions:
Our results discussed the difference in genetic background in A. vilmorinianum compared to A. weixiense and these high-quality DA biosynthesis-associated polymorphic locus provided useful genetic information for discrimination of A. vilmorinianum and could serve as a vehicle to study the mechanism of DA differentiation in Aconitum.
