Genome-Wide Identification, Evolution and Expression Analysis of the Glutathione S-Transferase Supergene Family in Euphorbiaceae.

Euphorbiaceae, a family of plants mainly grown in the tropics and subtropics, is also widely distributed all over the world and is well known for being rich in rubber, oil, medicinal materials, starch, wood and other economically important plant products. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) constitute a family of proteins encoded by a large supergene family and are widely expressed in animals, bacteria, fungi and plants, but with few reports of them in Euphorbiaceae plants. These proteins participate in and regulate the detoxification and oxidative stress response of heterogeneous organisms, resistance to stress, growth and development, signal transduction and other related processes. In this study, we identified and analyzed the whole genomes of four species of Euphorbiaceae, namely Ricinus communis, Jatropha curcas, Hevea brasiliensis, and Manihot esculenta, which have high economic and practical value. A total of 244 GST genes were identified. Based on their sequence characteristics and conserved domain types, the GST supergene family in Euphorbiaceae was classified into 10 subfamilies. The GST supergene families of Euphorbiaceae and Arabidopsis have been found to be highly conserved in evolution, and tandem repeats and translocations in these genes have made the greatest contributions to gene amplification here and have experienced strong purification selection. An evolutionary analysis showed that Euphorbiaceae GST genes have also evolved into new subtribes (GSTO, EF1BG, MAPEG), which may play a specific role in Euphorbiaceae. An analysis of expression patterns of the GST supergene family in Euphorbiaceae revealed the functions of these GSTs in different tissues, including resistance to stress and participation in herbicide detoxification. In addition, an interaction analysis was performed to determine the GST gene regulatory mechanism. The results of this study have laid a foundation for further analysis of the functions of the GST supergene family in Euphorbiaceae, especially in stress and herbicide detoxification. The results have also provided new ideas for the study of the regulatory mechanism of the GST supergene family, and have provided a reference for follow-up genetics and breeding work.

Major Fatty Acid Compositions and Antioxidant Activity of Cultivated Paeonia ostii under Different Nitrogen Fertilizer Application.

Paeonia ostii is now being extensively planted for oil extraction in China, which is recognized as a single oil-use tree peony cultivar and commonly called 'Fengdan'. This study investigated the effects of nitrogen fertilizer on oil yield, fatty acid compositions and antioxidant activity of P. ostii. Oil yield (33.46 %), oleic acid (25.12 %), linoleic acid (29.21 %) and α-linolenic acid (43.12 %) reached the maximum at N450 treatment, with significant differences compared with other treatments (P<0.05). Furthermore, strong antioxidant activity with low DPPHIC50 value (19.43±1.91 µg mL-1 ) and large ABTS value (1216.53±30.21 µmol Trolox g-1 ) and FRAP value (473.57±9.11 µmol Trolox g-1 ) was also observed at N450. Palmitic acid (5.57 %) and stearic acid (2.02 %) reached a maximum at N375, but not significant with N450 (P<0.05). Nitrogen fertilizer could promote oil yield, fatty acid accumulation and antioxidant activity, and N450 (450 kg ha-1 ) is recommended as the optimum application for P. ostii.

Major Fatty Acid Profiles and Bioactivity of Seed Oils from Ten†Tree Peony Cultivars as a Potential Raw Material Source for the Cosmetics and Healthy Products.

As a new woody oleaginous crop, tree peony is now being widely developed and utilized, which attributed to the outstanding oil-use features regarding the fatty acid profiles and bioactivity. The major fatty acid profiles and bioactivity of seed oils in ten tree peony varieties collected from a common garden were investigated in the present study. The results showed that the oil yields, fatty acid profiles, bioactivity of seed oils existed significant variations among ten tree peony varieties (P<0.05). Considered the application value, 'Fengdan' (FD) and 'Ziban' (ZB) was the optimal resources as the high oil yields, rich unsaturated fatty acids especially high α-linolenic acid of 40.46 %, great antioxidant activity with low IC50 values, high ABTS and FRAP values, and strong antimicrobial activity with high DIZ and low MIC/MBC values. The study also confirmed seed oil of tree peony as the potential raw materials sources in functional food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics for human health.

Phytochemical Profiles and Antioxidant Activity of Rehmannia glutinosa from Different Production Locations.

The chemical components and antioxidant activity of 16 Rehmannia glutinosa samples were investigated to reveal the high-quality raw resource for pharmaceutical products. 22 main chemical components were detected with significant content differences (P<0.05). The contents of 14 substances reached the maximum in S1 sample such as catalpol (6.74 mg g-1 ), rehmaionoside A (1.93 mg g-1 ) and rehmannioside D (5.13 mg g-1 ). However, the content distribution of the other eight substances had no obvious change regulation. Three antioxidant evaluation methods commonly showed that S1 sample had strong antioxidant activity with a low IC50 value of 0.022 mg mL-1 , a high ABTS value of 524.196 µmol equiv. Trolox g-1 , and a high FRAP value of 200.517 µmol equiv. Trolox g-1 . Considered the medicinal value, S1 had high quality based on the present phytochemical profiles and antioxidant activity. These results also indicated that the root extracts of R. glutinosa could become useful supplement for pharmaceutical products as new antioxidant agents.