RESEARCH ARTICLE

Molecular cloning and characterization of GuHMGR, an HMG-CoA reductase gene from liquorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis)

  • Chunying MA 1 ,
  • Chunsheng LIU 2,3 ,
  • Wenquan WANG , 2,3
Expand
  • 1. Key Laboratory of Regulation and Control of Crop Growth of Hebei Province, College of Agronomy, Agricultural University of Hebei, Baoding 071000, China
  • 2. School of Chinese Pharmacy, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100102, China
  • 3. The Engineering Research Center for Chinese Medicine Standardized Production of Educational Ministry, Beijing 100102, China

Received date: 22 Jan 2011

Accepted date: 30 Jun 2011

Published date: 05 Sep 2011

Copyright

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Abstract

A full length cDNA encoding HMGR (designated as GuHMGR) was isolated from liquorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) based on degenerated PCR and genome walking. The full length cDNA of GuHMGR was 2330 bp with a 1518-bp open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 505-aa polypeptide. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that there were two trans-membrane domains in GuHMGR. A molecular model of tertiary structure showed that GuHMGR is a novel HMGR with a similar spatial structure to other plant HMGRs. The deduced polypeptide of GuHMGR has an isoelectric point (pI) of 6.41 and a calculated molecular weight of about 54.7 kDa. Sequence comparison and phylogenetic tree analysis showed that GuHMGR had the highest homology with HMGRs from Pisum sativum and Medicago truncatula, indicating that GuHMGR belongs to the plant HMGR group. Expression analysis showed the similar amount of transcript level of GuHMGR in roots and leaves, suggesting that this gene was expressed constitutively in plants. Therefore, this novel HMGR gene would possibly provide a new strategy for studying the glycyrrhizin metabolism at the molecular level in the future.

Cite this article

Chunying MA , Chunsheng LIU , Wenquan WANG . Molecular cloning and characterization of GuHMGR, an HMG-CoA reductase gene from liquorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis)[J]. Frontiers of Agriculture in China, 2011 , 5(3) : 400 -406 . DOI: 10.1007/s11703-011-1121-3

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the State Natural Sciences Foundation Projects (No. 30572328 and No. 30672615), and the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China. It was also supported by the Province Natural Sciences Foundation Projects of Hebei (No. C2009000583).
1
Bach T J (1995). Some new aspects of isoprenoid biosynthesis in plants—a review. Lipids, 30(3): 191–202

DOI PMID

2
Caelles C, Ferrer A, Balcells L, Hegardt F G, Boronat A (1989). Isolation and structural characterization of a cDNA encoding Arabidopsis thaliana 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase. Plant Mol Biol, 13(6): 627–638

DOI PMID

3
Chang S J, Puryear J, Cairney J (1993). A simple and efficient method for isolating RNA from pine trees. Plant Mol Biol Rep, 11(2): 113–116

DOI

4
Chappell J (1995). Biochemistry and molecular biology of the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway in plants. Ann Rev Plant Physio Plant Mol Biol, 46(1): 521–547

DOI

5
Choi D, Ward B L, Bostock R M (1992). Differential induction and suppression of potato 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase genes in response to Phytophthora infestans and to its elicitor arachidonic acid. Plant Cell, 4(10): 1333–1344

PMID

6
Cinatl J, Morgenstern B, Bauer G, Chandra P, Rabenau H, Doerr H W (2003). Glycyrrhizin, an active component of liquorice roots, and replication of SARS-associated coronavirus. Lancet, 361(9374): 2045–2046

DOI PMID

7
Enjuto M, Balcells L, Campos N, Caelles C, Arró M, Boronat A (1994). Arabidopsis thaliana contains two differentially expressed 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase genes, which encode microsomal forms of the enzyme. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 91(3): 927–931

DOI PMID

8
Goldstein J L, Brown M S (1990). Regulation of the mevalonate pathway. Nature, 343 (6257): 425–430

DOI PMID

9
Hayashi H, Hirota A, Hiraoka N, Ikeshiro Y (1999). Molecular cloning and characterization of two cDNAs for Glycyrrhiza glabra squalene synthase. Biol Pharm Bull, 22(9): 947–950

PMID

10
Hayashi H, Huang P, Kirakosyan A, Inoue K, Hiraoka N, Ikeshiro Y, Kushiro T, Shibuya M, Ebizuka Y (2001). Cloning and characterization of a cDNA encoding β-amyrin synthase involved in glycyrrhizin and soyasaponin biosyntheses in licorice. Biol Pharm Bull, 24(8): 912–916

DOI PMID

11
Ito M, Nakashima H, Baba M, Pauwels R, De Clercq E, Shigeta S, Yamamoto N (1987). Inhibitory effect of glycyrrhizin on the in vitro infectivity and cytopathic activity of the human immunodeficiency virus [HIV (HTLV-III/LAV)]. Antiviral Res, 7(3): 127–137

DOI PMID

12
Jelesko J G, Jenkins S M, Rodríguez-Concepció M, Gruissem W (1999). Regulation of tomato HMG1 during cell proliferation and growth. Planta, 208(3): 310–318

DOI

13
Jiang J H, Kai G Y, Cao X Y, Chen F M, He D N, Liu Q (2006). Molecular cloning of a HMG-CoA reductase gene from Eucommia ulmoides Oliver. Biosci Rep, 26(2): 171–181

DOI PMID

14
Learned R M, Fink G R (1989). 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase from Arabidopsis thaliana is structurally distinct from the yeast and animal enzymes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 86(8): 2779–2783

DOI PMID

15
Liao Z H, Tan Q M, Chai Y R, Zuo K J, Chen M, Gong Y F, Wang P, Pi Y, Tan F, Sun X F, Tang K X (2004). Cloning and characterisation of the gene encoding HMG-CoA reductase from Taxus media and its functional identification in yeast. Funct Plant Biol, 31: 73–81

DOI

16
Maldonado-Mendoza I E, Burnett R J, Nessler C L (1992). Nucleotide sequence of a cDNA encoding 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase from Catharanthus roseus. Plant Physiol, 100(3): 1613–1614

DOI PMID

17
Maldonado-Mendoza I E, Vincent R M, Nessler C L (1997). Molecular characterization of three differentially expressed members of the Camptotheca acuminata 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGR) gene family. Plant Mol Biol, 34(5): 781–790

DOI PMID

18
Matsui S, Matsumoto H, Sonoda Y, Ando K, Aizu-Yokota E, Sato T, Kasahara T (2004). Glycyrrhizin and related compounds down-regulate production of inflammatory chemokines IL-8 and eotaxin 1 in a human lung fibroblast cell line. Int Immunopharmacol, 4(13): 1633–1644

DOI PMID

19
Park H, Denbow C J, Cramer C L (1992). Structure and nucleotide sequence of tomato HMG2 encoding 3-hydroxy-3-methyl-glutaryl coenzyme A reductase. Plant Mol Biol, 20(2): 327–331

DOI PMID

20
Schwede T, Kopp J, Guex N, Peitsch M C (2003). SWISS-MODEL: An automated protein homology-modeling server. Nucleic Acids Res, 31(13): 3381–3385

DOI PMID

21
Shen G A, Pang Y Z, Wu W S, Liao Z H, Zhao L X, Sun X F, Tang K X (2006). Cloning and characterization of a root-specific expressing gene encoding 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase from Ginkgo biloba. Mol Biol Rep, 33(2): 117–127

DOI PMID

22
Shibata S (2000). A drug over the millennia: pharmacognosy, chemistry, and pharmacology of licorice. Yakugaku Zasshi, 120(10): 849–862

PMID

23
Van Rossum T G J, Vulto, De Man R A, Brouwer J T, Schalm S W (1998). glycyrrhizin as a potential treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Aliment Pharmacol Ther, 12(3): 199–205

DOI PMID

Outlines

/