Avaliação do transcriptoma, proteoma e perfil metabólico na investigação da biossíntese de alcaloides de Erythrina velutina Willd

Abstract

Plants belonging to the genus Erythrina are sources of tetracyclic alkaloids of the benzylisoquinoline type, can be found in northeastern Brazil, in the Caatinga biome and used in folk medicine mainly as a central nervous system depressant (sedative, sedative). One of the limiting factors that many natural products present as medicines is their low yield and difficult to obtain in sufficient quantities to supply the pharmaceutical industry. Thus, according to border studies in the area, it is important to understand aspects of alkaloids biosynthesis through molecular tools. This work aims to contribute to the study in the area of biosynthesis with regard to the alkaloids present in the leaves and seeds of the species Erythrina velutina Willd through “omics” technologies (transcriptome and metabolic profile) in order to understand the dynamics of production of these molecules with bioactive potential. Therefore, for the investigation of the transcriptome we performed the sequencing again for the first time on a species of the genus and on a plant native to the Caatinga biome with this approch. The analysis of the targeted metabolic profile were performed with a Liquid Chromatography strategy coupled to Mass Spectrometry [LC-MS/MS] combined with the Molecular Networking tool for secondary metabolites. As a result, 17 transcripts were identified to form the biosynthetic pathway of isoquinoline alkaloids in seeds and leaves of this species. In addition, 25 alkaloids were noted belonging to the two classes of alkaloids already reported for the genus: dienoid and alkenoid, with 8 alkaloids common to leaves and seeds, 8 found exclusively in seeds and 9 exclusively in leaves. These data contribute to scientific knowledge in the design of biotechnological intervention strategies for future studies, in order to improve the production of these bioactive molecules in the plant, in addition to the enhancement of a plant in the Caatinga of RN as a source of alkaloids with potential pharmaceutical interest.