Enhancement of tanshinone production in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy root cultures by metabolic engineering

BACKGROUND: Tanshinones are diterpenoid compounds that are used to treat cardiovascular diseases. As current extraction methods for tanshinones are inefficient, there is a pressing need to improve the production of these bioactive compounds to meet increasing demand. RESULTS: Overexpression of SmMDS (2-c-methyl-d-erythritol 2,4-cyclodiphosphate synthase, a tanshinone biosynthesis gene) in transgenic Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots significantly increased the tanshinone yield compared to the control, and total tanshinone content in SmMDS-overexpressing lines increased after elicitor treatment. Total tanshinones increased to 2.5, 2.3, and 3.2 mg/g DW (dry weight) following treatment with Ag(+), YE (yeast extract), and MJ (methyl jasmonate), respectively, compared with the non-induced transgenic line (1.7 mg/g DW). Also, qRT-PCR analysis showed that the expression levels of two pathway genes was positively correlated with increased accumulation of tanshinone. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides an effective strategy for increasing the content of tanshinones and other natural compounds using a combination of genetic engineering and elicitor treatment. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s13007-019-0439-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.