Differential Regulation of Polysaccharide Synthesis in Leaves and Roots of Codonopsis pilosula under Moderate Drought Stress

doi:10.7525/j.issn.1673-5102.2026.03.011

Abstract

Abstract:

By investigating metabolite levels， enzyme activities， and gene expression associated with polysaccharide synthesis in the leaves and roots of Codonopsis pilosula under moderate drought conditions， this study amied to reveal the differential regulatory mechanisms governing polysaccharide synthesis in the tissues. During the flowering period， plants were subjected to two treatments：normal moisture（CK， 0% PEG-6000） and moderate drought（DH， 15% PEG-6000）. Samples were collected at 7， 14， and 21 days post-treatment. Using ultraviolet spectrophotometry， high-performance liquid chromatography（HPLC）， and high-throughput sequencing， we quantified the levels of metabolites involved in the polysaccharide synthesis pathway， enzyme activities， and gene expression in root and leaf tissues of C. pilosula. Results indicated that under moderate drought conditions， the levels of upstream metabolites—sucrose， fructose， and glucose—differred between leaves and roots. Specifically， the proportion of glucose increased in roots， whereas it decreased in leaves. Enzyme activities in the polysaccharide synthesis pathway also exhibited distinct tissue-specific responses： sucrase activity increased in both tissues， while the activities of monosaccharide conversion-related enzymes（galE， GAE， UXS1， and UER1） increased in leaves but decreased in roots. Moreover， significant changes in sucrase activity occurred earlier in leaves than in roots. Gene expression analysis further revealed tissue-specific differences in the regulation of polysaccharide synthesis. Among the 10 sucrose invertase regulatory genes， 2 were upregulated and 3 downregulated in leaves， whereas 6 were upregulated and 1 downregulated in roots. For the 14 genes encoding monosaccharide conversion enzymes， 7 were upregulated and 2 downregulated in leaves， compared to 2 upregulated and 5 downregulated in roots. Pearson correlation analysis showed that under moderate drought， the number of genes positively correlated with enzyme activity significantly increased in both tissues. Specifically， gene expression in leaves was positively correlated with monosaccharide conversion enzyme activity， whereas gene expression in roots was positively correlated with sucrose transferase activity. Collectively， moderate drought differentially regulated polysaccharide synthesis in C. pilosula leaves and roots by modulating upstream metabolite levels， sucrose transferase activity， and monosaccharide conversion-related gene expression， thereby controlling tissue-specific polysaccharide synthesis and accumulation.

Key words: Codonopsis pilosula, moderate drought, CPPs component, enzymatic activity, differential genes expression

CLC Number:

Q945.1

Tinglei GUAN, Zeng CHEN, Chu HUANG, Meile SUN, Honggang CHEN, Tao DU, Huizhen WANG. Differential Regulation of Polysaccharide Synthesis in Leaves and Roots of Codonopsis pilosula under Moderate Drought Stress[J]. Bulletin of Botanical Research, 2026, 46(3): 505-516.

Figures/Tables 12

Fig.1

Fig.2

Table 1

Fig.3

Fig.4

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Table 2

Table 3

Regulatory effect of moderate drought on activities of monosaccharide-converting enzymes in the CPPs synthesis pathway

酶 Enzyme	胁迫时间 Stress time/d	不同处理下各部位酶活性 Enzyme activity of different parts under different treatments/（U·g^-1）
		CK		DH
		叶Leaves	根Roots	叶Leaves	根Roots
尿苷-葡萄糖4-差向异构酶 galE	7	1.15±0.04	1.28±0.06*	1.19±0.03	1.12±0.06
	14	1.12±0.04	1.16±0.04	1.16±0.01	1.18±0.04
	21	1.12±0.03	1.19±0.03*	1.13±0.05	1.11±0.03
尿苷-葡萄糖醛酸-4-差向异构酶 GAE	7	3 689.86±23.41	3 810.1±120.04*	4 035.81±47.36*	3 413.70±15.55
	14	3 906.98±200.01	4 010.6±101.09	3 691.22±61.25	4 020.50±65.04
	21	3 455.63±140.76	3 963.7±199.21**	4 230.41±152.07**	3 464.20±37.91
尿苷-葡萄糖6-脱氢酶 UGDH	7	63.92±2.42	59.95±0.58**	64.20±0.53	51.80±0.57
	14	57.06±2.29	60.84±1.64	58.16±1.35	61.49±1.95
	21	53.67±1.84	57.89±1.06	58.64±0.53**	59.89±1.24
尿苷-芹菜糖/木糖合酶 AXS	7	0.73±0.03	0.73±0.01	0.89±0.01**	0.72±0.02
	14	0.75±0.02	0.70±0.01	0.71±0.02	0.81±0.02*
	21	0.76±0.03	0.78±0.06	1.05±0.04**	1.13±0.06**
尿苷二磷酸葡糖醛酸脱羧酶 UXS1	7	1.41±0.01	1.39±0.05	1.51±0.02*	1.50±0.05*
	14	1.55±0.04	1.69±0.03	1.49±0.04	1.66±0.01
	21	1.46±0.05	1.70±0.14	2.00±0.03**	1.66±0.06
尿苷二磷酸葡萄糖焦磷酸化酶 UGP2	7	0.76±0.02	0.74±0.02	0.75±0.01	0.70±0.00
	14	0.72±0.02	0.79±0.02	0.75±0.01	0.78±0.02
	21	0.68±0.02	0.71±0.02	0.76±0.01**	0.76±0.03
3，5-差向异构酶/4-还原酶 UER1	7	3.12±0.15	3.36±0.12	3.43±0.16*	3.12±0.03
	14	3.24±0.07	3.44±0.18**	3.31±0.08	3.21±0.04
	21	2.91±0.09	3.33±0.05	3.32±0.16*	3.26±0.16
尿苷-阿拉伯糖-4-差向异构酶 UXE	7	0.95±0.03	1.26±0.05**	1.13±0.13*	1.07±0.18
	14	0.93±0.07	0.97±0.01	1.74±0.05**	1.67±0.04**
	21	1.19±0.04	1.10±0.08	1.70±0.22*	1.50±0.04**
甘露糖-1-磷酸-鸟苷转移酶 GMPP	7	3 414.13±87.78	3 382.57±109.75**	3 346.17±58.57	2 874.81±122.82
	14	3 181.12±112.84**	3 501.02±77.56**	2 885.49±147.49	2 768.50±65.67
	21	2 579.17±51.00*	2 767.04±127.83	2 190.88±24.43	2 733.54±75.70
糖基转移酶 GTs	7	2 807.46±18.28	3 035.13±41.98**	3 075.76±48.96**	2 765.51±20.85
	14	2 799.42±48.24	3 025.76±36.11**	2 965.49±12.92*	2 743.62±40.60
	21	2 738.71±44.51	2 789.60±76.82	2 790.94±27.09*	2 723.08±10.74

Table 3

Table 4

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Fig.7

Fig.8

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酶 Enzyme	胁迫时间 Stress time/d	不同处理下各部位酶活性 Enzyme activity of different parts under different treatments/（U·g^-1）
		CK		DH
		叶Leaves	根Roots	叶Leaves	根Roots
蔗糖磷酸合成酶 SPS	7	638.7±16.8	584.4±23.8	733.5±6.9^**	569.1±17.9
	14	649.9±30.8	721.6±11.8	645.2±9.3	714.2±12.5
	21	596.3±10.1	609.5±31.6	596.3±17.2	602.5±6.0
蔗糖合成酶 SS	7	624.0±4.5	596.1±8.9	691.8±12.9^**	582.9±11.9
	14	696.6±17.6	802.5±13.8	685.4±2.8	807.6±3.3
	21	609.4±11.7	784.2±5.2^**	688.0±1.8^**	741.8±3.5
β-呋喃果糖苷酶 sacA	7	538.2±12.9	576.0±12.1^*	634.3±8.8^**	550.5±17.0
	14	567.2±18.5	575.9±7.7	526.5±4.0	608.7±9.6^*
	21	575.0±30.7	613.5±8.7	613.8±14.1^*	649.4±23.4
酸性转化酶 AI	7	6 667.5±139.6	5 934.1±125.2^*	6 301.8±64.7	5 324.3±67.7
	14	5 571.4±239.9	6 252.7±278.9^**	5 285.1±202.6	5 414.5±180.9
	21	6 380.2±171.6^*	5 754.7±165.3	5 861.6±137.3	5 668.4±229.2
中性转化酶 NI	7	4 043.9±65.5	4 111.8±149.8	4 160.0±142.1	3 923.7±173.2
	14	3 951.4±52.6	3 986.2±83.2^*	3 954.0±123.6	3 580.2±202.2
	21	4 254.6±42.7	3 894.5±19.6	4 051.1±64.5	4 013.6±134.3