Watercress (Nasturtium officinale R. Br.) is an aquatic herb species that is a rich source of secondary metabolites such as
glucosinolates. Among these
glucosinolates, watercress contains high amounts of
gluconasturtiin (2-phenethyl glucosinolate) and its hydrolysis product, 2-phennethyl
isothiocyanate, which plays a role in suppressing
tumor growth. However, the use of N. officinale as a source of
herbal medicines is currently limited due to insufficient genomic and physiological information.
RESULTS: To acquire precise information on
glucosinolate biosynthesis in N. officinale, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome of different organs of N. officinale. Transcriptome analysis of N. officinale seedlings yielded 69,570,892 raw reads. These reads were assembled into 69,635 transcripts, 64,876 of which were annotated to transcripts in public databases. On the basis of the functional annotation of N. officinale, we identified 33 candidate genes encoding
enzymes related to
glucosinolate biosynthetic pathways and analyzed the expression of these genes in the leaves, stems, roots, flowers, and seeds of N. officinale. The expression of NoMYB28 and NoMYB29, the main regulators of aliphatic
glucosinolate biosynthesis, was highest in the stems, whereas the key regulators of indolic
glucosinolate biosynthesis, such as NoDof1.1, NoMYB34, NoMYB51, and NoMYB122, were strongly expressed in the roots. Most
glucosinolate biosynthetic genes were highly expressed in the flowers. HPLC analysis enabled us to detect eight
glucosinolates in the different organs of N. officinale. Among these
glucosinolates, the level of
gluconasturtiin was considerably higher than any other
glucosinolate in individual organs, and the amount of total
glucosinolates was highest in the flower.
CONCLUSIONS: This study has enhanced our understanding of functional genomics of N. officinale, including the
glucosinolate biosynthetic pathways of this plant. Ultimately, our data will be helpful for further research on watercress bio-engineering and better strategies for exploiting its anti-carcinogenic properties.