Analysis of the Rehmannia chingii geneome identifies RcCYP72H7 as an epoxidase in iridoid glycoside biosynthesis

Fengqing Wang (), Zhennan Jiang, Junge Gao, Chunyan Miao, Ci Song, Yahe Yang, Ning Ding, Yajing Li, Hongzheng Sun, Caixia Xie, Bao Zhang, Pengyu Zhang, Li Gu, Qiuwen Hao, Zhongyi Zhang, Luqi Huang () and Yuan Yuan ()
Additional contact information
Fengqing Wang: Henan Agricultural University
Zhennan Jiang: China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS)
Junge Gao: Henan Agricultural University
Chunyan Miao: Henan Agricultural University
Ci Song: Henan Agricultural University
Yahe Yang: Henan Agricultural University
Ning Ding: Henan Agricultural University
Yajing Li: Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Hongzheng Sun: Henan Agricultural University
Caixia Xie: Henan University of Chinese Medicine
Bao Zhang: Henan University of Chinese Medicine
Pengyu Zhang: Henan Agricultural University
Li Gu: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Qiuwen Hao: Henan Agricultural University
Zhongyi Zhang: Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University
Luqi Huang: China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS)
Yuan Yuan: China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (CACMS)

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: Abstract Rehmannia chingii (2n = 2x = 28) is an important folk medicinal plant with high therapeutic value, particularly due to its richness in iridoid glycosides. However, research on its evolution and gene functional identification has been hindered by the lack of a high-quality genome. Here, we present the 1.169 Gb telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genome sequence of R. chingii. Phylogenetic analysis confirms that Rehmannia belongs to the Orobanchaceae family. We find that structural genes of the 2-C-methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway and the iridoid pathway are predominantly expressed in R. chingii leaves. Further analyses reveal a cytochrome P450 gene cluster localized on chromosome 8, and identify RcCYP72H7 within this cluster as an aucubin epoxidase, capable of catalyzing aucubin epoxidation to form catalpol. The genome offers valuable resources for studying iridoid glycoside biosynthesis and the evolutionary history of Rehmannia, and will help to faciliate genetic improvement of R. chingii for pharmaceutical and health-related applications.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60909-9 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60909-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60909-9

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().