Cloning and Expression Features of Transcription Factor Gene SmbHLH59 from Salvia miltiorrhiza
Liu Cong
Wang Chaoyang
Liu Jiangbin
Mei Xiangui
Wang Chenchen
Ren Zhenli
Song Zhenqiao
Abstract：Tanshinones are the primary bioactive compounds in Salvia miltiorrhiza,and their biosynthetic pathways are regulated by various factors.The basic helix-loop-helix(bHLH)transcription factor family plays crucial roles in plant growth metabolism,secondary metabolite synthesis,and stress responses.To explore the role of bHLH in tanshinone biosynthesis,the full-length coding sequence(CDS)of SmbHLH59 was cloned from S.miltiorrhiza,followed by comprehensive bioinformatics and expression profile analyses.The results showed that SmbHLH59 was conserved in structure,containing three exons and two introns.The SmbHLH59 protein was composed of 226 amino acids with weak acidity and highly hydrophobicity,and was a lipophilic protein.It was characterized by low stability,a high proportion of random coils,and high complexity.Subcel-lular localization predicted that SmbHLH59 was located in the nucleus.It had the closest relationship with bHLH126 from Citrus splendens.The promoter region of SmbHLH59 was enriched with cis-acting elements re-sponse to phytohormones.Expression analysis revealed that SmbHLH59 reached the highest expression level in phloem of the red roots and was significantly up-regulated when induced by methyl jasmonate(MeJA),which suggested that SmbHLH59 was involved in tanshinone biosynthesis in the red roots and was regulated by MeJA.This study could provide a vital foundation for further functional characterization of the SmbHLH59 gene.
Keywords：Salvia miltiorrhizabHLH Transcription factorGene cloningBioinformatics analysisEx-pression analysis
Publication Date：2026-01-30
Online Publishing Date：2026-05-22(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：7( 1-7 )