Stevia rebaudiana genetic-sequences identification related with the glycosides synthesis pathway

Abstract

Medicinal plants are part of world culture since immemorial times, but studies about the processes of secondary-metabolites synthesis, are insufficient. Therefore, transcriptomics and metabolomics technologies have gained credibility as more accurate biologically options for characterization of plant material, including very specific studies in terms of gene expression. This research aimed to search in databases, glycosides synthesis pathway related genes in Stevia rebaudiana, and the analysis of promoter regions, to establish relationships between DNA interaction sites and transcription regulation proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana. A sample of mRNA was sequenced from S. rebaudiana leaf and was aligned against gene sequences reported. Some of the selected genes were found underrepresented in the transcriptome, which would signal the controlled production of glycosides regulated by certain genes; this is consistent with the correlative studies that have shown the importance of SrCPPS, SRKs, SrKO genes in regulating the content of glycosides. The use of these results involves the study of the stimuli to transcription factors that regulate gene expression in the metabolic pathway of interest, as the response to water stress and high levels of salinity.