MeJA-induced transcriptional changes in adventitious roots of Bupleurum kaoi

The plant regulator methyl-jasmonate (MeJA) mediates diverse developmental processes and defense responses which induce a variety of secondary metabolites. This study reports the regulatory network of MeJA-induced genes in adventitious root cultures of the medicinal herb Bupleurum kaoi. A cDNA microarray containing 465 unique expressed sequence tags (ESTs) as probe sets, generated with a PCR-Select cDNA Subtraction Kit, was employed to profile the transcriptome of MeJA induction at thirteen points in time. Real-time PCR was performed to verify changes in expression of 36 unique ESTs (uniESTs), detected via microarray. Genes upregulated by MeJA include those involved in saikosaponin, amino acid, phenylpropanoid and jasmonate biosynthesis, defense signaling, plant hormone regulation and stress protection; indicating that the JA signaling pathway interacts with other signaling pathways leading to transcriptional reprogramming in B. kaoi adventitious roots. Some of these MeJA-induced genes have applications in agricultural, pharmaceutical and food industries.