Novel findings to the biosynthetic pathway of magnoflorine and taspine through transcriptomic and metabolomic analysis of Croton draco (Euphorbiaceae)

BACKGROUND: Croton draco is an arboreal species and its latex as well as some other parts of the plant, are traditionally used in the treatment of a wide range of ailments and diseases. Alkaloids, such as magnoflorine, prevent early atherosclerosis progression while taspine, an abundant constituent of latex, has been described as a wound-healer and antitumor-agent. Despite the great interest for these and other secondary metabolites, no omics resources existed for the species and the biosynthetic pathways of these alkaloids remain largely unknown. RESULTS: To gain insights into the pathways involved in magnoflorine and taspine biosynthesis by C. draco and identify the key enzymes in these processes, we performed an integrated analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome in the major organs (roots, stem, leaves, inflorescences, and flowers) of this species. Transcript profiles were generated through high-throughput RNA-sequencing analysis while targeted and high resolution untargeted metabolomic profiling was also performed. The biosynthesis of these compounds appears to occur in the plant organs examined, but intermediaries may be translocated from the cells in which they are produced to other cells in which they accumulate. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide a framework to better understand magnoflorine and taspine biosynthesis in C. draco. In addition, we demonstrate the potential of multi-omics approaches to identify candidate genes involved in the biosynthetic pathways of interest.