Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 702985 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| Volume | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Jul 2021 |
Abstract
Crassocephalum crepidioides is an African orphan crop that is used as a leafy vegetable and medicinal plant. Although it is of high regional importance in Sub-Saharan Africa, the plant is still mainly collected from the wild and therefore efforts are made to promote its domestication. However, in addition to beneficial properties, there was first evidence that C. crepidioides can accumulate the highly toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) jacobine and here it was investigated, how jacobine production is controlled. Using ecotypes from Africa and Asia that were characterized in terms of their PA profiles, it is shown that the tetraploid C. crepidioides forms jacobine, an ability that its diploid close relative Crassocephalum rubens appears to lack. Evidence is provided that nitrogen (N) deficiency strongly increases jacobine in the leaves of C. crepidioides, that this capacity depends more strongly on the shoot than the root system, and that homospermidine synthase (HSS) activity is not rate-limiting for this reaction. A characterization of HSS gene representation and transcription showed that C. crepidioides and C. rubens possess two functional versions, one of which is conserved, that the HSS transcript is mainly present in roots and that its abundance is not controlled by N deficiency. In summary, this work improves our understanding of how environmental cues impact PA biosynthesis in plants and provides a basis for the development of PA-free C. crepidioides cultivars, which will aid its domestication and safe use.
Keywords
- alkaloids, domestication, ebolo, fireweed, genome, neglected crop, nutrients, Yoruba bologi
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Plant Science
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In: Frontiers in Plant Science, Vol. 12, 702985, 28.07.2021.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Orphan Crop Crassocephalum crepidioides Accumulates the Pyrrolizidine Alkaloid Jacobine in Response to Nitrogen Starvation
AU - Schramm, Sebastian
AU - Rozhon, Wilfried
AU - Adedeji-Badmus, Adebimpe N.
AU - Liang, Yuanyuan
AU - Nayem, Shahran
AU - Winkelmann, Traud
AU - Poppenberger, Brigitte
N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD Ph.D. fellowship to AA-B). SS and AA-B were members of the TUM Graduate School. Funding Information: We thank the Millenium Seed Bank at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens for seeds of the Crassocephalum accessions used and the IPK gene bank for seeds of the Pisum sativum reference standard. Irene Ziegler and Nicolai K?hler are thanked for technical assistance. Funding. This work was supported by the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD Ph.D. fellowship to AA-B). SS and AA-B were members of the TUM Graduate School.
PY - 2021/7/28
Y1 - 2021/7/28
N2 - Crassocephalum crepidioides is an African orphan crop that is used as a leafy vegetable and medicinal plant. Although it is of high regional importance in Sub-Saharan Africa, the plant is still mainly collected from the wild and therefore efforts are made to promote its domestication. However, in addition to beneficial properties, there was first evidence that C. crepidioides can accumulate the highly toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) jacobine and here it was investigated, how jacobine production is controlled. Using ecotypes from Africa and Asia that were characterized in terms of their PA profiles, it is shown that the tetraploid C. crepidioides forms jacobine, an ability that its diploid close relative Crassocephalum rubens appears to lack. Evidence is provided that nitrogen (N) deficiency strongly increases jacobine in the leaves of C. crepidioides, that this capacity depends more strongly on the shoot than the root system, and that homospermidine synthase (HSS) activity is not rate-limiting for this reaction. A characterization of HSS gene representation and transcription showed that C. crepidioides and C. rubens possess two functional versions, one of which is conserved, that the HSS transcript is mainly present in roots and that its abundance is not controlled by N deficiency. In summary, this work improves our understanding of how environmental cues impact PA biosynthesis in plants and provides a basis for the development of PA-free C. crepidioides cultivars, which will aid its domestication and safe use.
AB - Crassocephalum crepidioides is an African orphan crop that is used as a leafy vegetable and medicinal plant. Although it is of high regional importance in Sub-Saharan Africa, the plant is still mainly collected from the wild and therefore efforts are made to promote its domestication. However, in addition to beneficial properties, there was first evidence that C. crepidioides can accumulate the highly toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) jacobine and here it was investigated, how jacobine production is controlled. Using ecotypes from Africa and Asia that were characterized in terms of their PA profiles, it is shown that the tetraploid C. crepidioides forms jacobine, an ability that its diploid close relative Crassocephalum rubens appears to lack. Evidence is provided that nitrogen (N) deficiency strongly increases jacobine in the leaves of C. crepidioides, that this capacity depends more strongly on the shoot than the root system, and that homospermidine synthase (HSS) activity is not rate-limiting for this reaction. A characterization of HSS gene representation and transcription showed that C. crepidioides and C. rubens possess two functional versions, one of which is conserved, that the HSS transcript is mainly present in roots and that its abundance is not controlled by N deficiency. In summary, this work improves our understanding of how environmental cues impact PA biosynthesis in plants and provides a basis for the development of PA-free C. crepidioides cultivars, which will aid its domestication and safe use.
KW - alkaloids
KW - domestication
KW - ebolo
KW - fireweed
KW - genome
KW - neglected crop
KW - nutrients
KW - Yoruba bologi
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85112305520&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fpls.2021.702985
DO - 10.3389/fpls.2021.702985
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112305520
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Plant Science
JF - Frontiers in Plant Science
SN - 1664-462X
M1 - 702985
ER -