Panax ginseng is a medicinal plant with diverse pharmacological effects; its primary active components are ginsenosides. The biosynthesis of ginsenosides can be regulated by the plant hormone methyl jasmonate (MeJA) during in vitro culture of ginseng. The PYL proteins, which serve as abscisic acid (ABA) receptors, play a crucial role in plant hormone signaling transduction. However, there are no reports on the response of PYL genes to MeJA in ginseng. In this study, we identified 49 members of the PYL gene family in the ginseng genome and transcriptome from databases and conducted a systematic analysis. The results indicated that these PYL genes were unevenly distributed across the chromosomes and exhibited significant synteny. Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotation revealed considerable functional diversity in the PYL gene family in ginseng. Analysis of the promoter cis-acting elements showed that these genes are involved in various biological processes, including growth, development, and metabolic regulation. After treating ginseng adventitious roots with MeJA, we found that four PgPYL genes (PgPYL13, PgPYL17-01, PgPYL17-02, and PgPYL23) containing abundant MeJA-responsive elements exhibited distinct expression patterns and were negatively correlated with protopanaxadiol-type ginsenoside content. This study systematically elucidated the characteristics and functions of the ginseng PYL gene family, revealing its potential role in MeJA signal transduction and the regulation of ginsenoside biosynthesis. Our findings provide a theoretical basis for optimizing the in vitro culture of ginseng plant cells and enhancing ginsenoside production.
Zhang et al. (Thu,) studied this question.