Abstract
Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) essential oil phenylpropenes are synthesized and accumulate in peltate glandular trichomes and their content and composition depend on plant developmental stage. Studies on gene expression and enzymatic activity indicate that the phenylpropene biosynthetic genes are developmentally regulated. In this study, the methylchavicol accumulation in basil leaves and the enzyme activities and gene expression of both chavicol O-methyltransferase (CVOMT) and eugenol O-methyltransferase (EOMT) were investigated in all leaves at four plant developmental stages. Methylchavicol accumulation decreased over time as leaves matured. There was a significant correlation between methylchavicol accumulation and CVOMT (r 2 = 0.88) enzyme activity, suggesting that the levels of biosynthetic enzymes control the essential oil content. CVOMT and EOMT transcript expression levels, which decreased with leaf age, followed the same pattern in both whole leaves and isolated glandular trichomes, providing evidence that CVOMT transcript levels are developmentally regulated in basil glandular trichomes themselves and that differences in CVOMT expression observed in whole leaves are not solely the result of differences in glandular trichome density.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported with funding from Center for New Use Agriculture and Natural Products Program, The New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Cook College, Rutgers University and the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University. Authors also acknowledge the funding by CAPES – Federal Agency for Graduate Programs Support and Evaluation-Brazil – who sponsored the senior author’s graduate studies in the United States. We also thank Drs. David Gang, N. Dudareva and S. Weller for their fruitful discussions over the course of this research.
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Deschamps, C., Simon, J.E. (2010). Phenylpropanoid Biosynthesis in Leaves and Glandular Trichomes of Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.). In: Fett-Neto, A. (eds) Plant Secondary Metabolism Engineering. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 643. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-723-5_18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-723-5_18
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