《生命科学》 2015, 27(8): 1091-1094

黄瓜苦味物质的代谢调控与合成生物学

尚　轶1，2，黄三文1，2*

(1 中国农业科学院蔬菜花卉研究所，北京 100081；2 中国农业科学院深圳农业基因组研究所，深圳 518124)

摘　要：摘　要：苦味是影响蔬菜品质的不良性状。然而，苦味物质对植物是“天然农药”，可用以抵御虫害侵入；对人类是消炎、保肝药，同时还具有抗癌药物开发潜力。通过整合黄瓜基因组大数据及传统生物学研究手段，共发现11 个基因控制着黄瓜苦味形成。其中9 个基因参与苦味合成，2 个是调控苦味合成的“开关”基因。黄瓜苦味合成、调控及驯化分子机制的解析为综合利用及改良苦味物质创造了条件：(1) 通过精细调控叶片和果实中的苦味“开关”基因，可培育叶苦果不苦的黄瓜，既可利用苦味保护植物不受害虫侵害，减少农药使用，又可保障黄瓜优良的商品品质；(2) 利用合成生物学的方法体外大规模、快速合成和改良苦味物质，为后期新型药物研发创造条件。

Bitterness metabolism in cucumber and synthetic biology

SHANG Yi1，2， HUANG San-Wen1，2*

(1 Institute of Vegetables and Flowers， Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences， Beijing 100081， China; 2 Agricultural Genomic Institute at Shenzhen， Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences， Shenzhen 518124， China)

Abstract: Abstract: Bitterness accumulated at editable tissues of vegetables would seriously affect their quality and marketability. However， the bitter compounds， cucurbitacins， help plants to wade off herbivores and are exploited by humans in form of traditional herbal medicines for their anti-inflammatory， hepatoprotective and potential antitumor properties. By integrating big genomic data of cucumber and multiple molecular research tools， 9-gene module (1 OSC， 7 P450s and 1 ACT) involved in the bitterness biosynthetic pathway and 2 bitterness regulators were unveiled. The discovery of bitterness biosynthesis， regulation and domestication in cucumber provides possibility to develop a new non-bitter cucumber by accurately tuning the bitterness biosynthesis in different plant tissues， which protect plants from herbivores with their own weapon systems but avoid the unpleasant bitter taste in the fruit. And this study also opens a door to metabolic engineering cucurbitacins as potential anti-tumor drugs.