Project description:Astragalus membranaceus, also known as Huangqi in China, is one of the most widely used medicinal herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Traditional Chinese Medicine formulations from Astragalus membranaceus have been used to treat a wide range of illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, nephritis and cancers. Pharmacological studies have shown that immunomodulating, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antiviral activities exist in the extract of Astragalus membranaceus. Therefore, characterising the biosynthesis of bioactive compounds in Astragalus membranaceus, such as Astragalosides, Calycosin and Calycosin-7-O-?-d-glucoside, is of particular importance for further genetic studies of Astragalus membranaceus. In this study, we reconstructed the Astragalus membranaceus full-length transcriptomes from leaf and root tissues using PacBio Iso-Seq long reads. We identified 27 975 and 22 343 full-length unique transcript models in each tissue respectively. Compared with previous studies that used short read sequencing, our reconstructed transcripts are longer, and are more likely to be full-length and include numerous transcript variants. Moreover, we also re-characterised and identified potential transcript variants of genes involved in Astragalosides, Calycosin and Calycosin-7-O-?-d-glucoside biosynthesis. In conclusion, our study provides a practical pipeline to characterise the full-length transcriptome for species without a reference genome and a useful genomic resource for exploring the biosynthesis of active compounds in Astragalus membranaceus.
Project description:To identify biomarkers regulated by traditional Chinese medicine Astragalus membranaceus Fischer Bge. var. mongolicus Bge. Hsiao in colorectal cancer. We have identified several differentially expressed genes including microRNAs using Affymetrix HTA-2.0 array. In this dataset, we include the expression data obtained from colon cancer cell line HCT116 grafted into nude mice. The mice was treated either water or traditional Chinese medicine Astragalus membranaceus for 28 days. These data are used to obtain 1425 genes that are differentially expressed in response to Astragalus membranaceus treatment. Overall design: 16 total samples were analyzed. The data was RMA-normalized and differentially expressed genes were selected using GeneSpring. Genes with a p < 0.05 and a fold-change > 1.5 were selected.
Project description:BACKGROUND:Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao is one of the most common herbs widely used in South and East Asia, to enhance people's health and reinforce vital energy. Despite its prevalence, however, the knowledge about phytochemical compositions and metabolite biosynthesis in Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao is very limited. RESULTS:An integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis using state-of-the-art UPLC-Q-Orbitrap mass spectrometer and advanced bioinformatics pipeline were conducted to study global metabolic profiles and phytochemical ingredients/biosynthesis in Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao. A total of 5435 metabolites were detected, from which 2190 were annotated, representing an order of magnitude increase over previously known. Metabolic profiling of Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao tissues found contents and synthetic enzymes for phytochemicals were significantly higher in leaf and stem in general, whereas the contents of the main bioactive ingredients were significantly enriched in root, underlying the value of root in herbal remedies. Using integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics data, we illustrated the complete pathways of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, flavonoid biosynthesis, and isoflavonoid biosynthesis, in which some were first reported in the herb. More importantly, we discovered novel flavonoid derivatives using informatics method for neutral loss scan, in addition to inferring their likely synthesis pathways in Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao. CONCLUSIONS:The current study represents the most comprehensive metabolomics and transcriptomics analysis on traditional herb Astragalus membranaceus Bge. var. mongolicus (Bge.) Hsiao. We demonstrated our integrated metabolomics and transcriptomics approach offers great potentials in discovering novel metabolite structure and associated synthesis pathways. This study provides novel insights into the phytochemical ingredients, metabolite biosynthesis, and complex metabolic network in herbs, highlighting the rich natural resource and nutritional value of traditional herbal plants.
Project description:Astragalus membranaceus (A. membranaceus) is a type of traditional Chinese medicine with a long history of clinical application. It is used in the improvement and treatment of various diseases as medicine and food to invigorate the spleen and replenish qi. The main components of A. membranaceus are Astragalus polysaccharide (APS), flavonoids compounds, saponins compounds, alkaloids, etc. APS is the most important natural active component in A. membranaceus, and possesses multiple pharmacological properties. At present, APS possess the huge potential to develop a drug improving or treating different diseases. In this review, we reveal the potential approaches of pre-treating and preparation on APS as much as possible and the study on content of APS and its chemical composition including different monosaccharides. More importantly, this paper summarize pharmacological actions on immune regulation, such as enhancing the immune organ index, promoting the proliferation of immune cells, stimulating the release of cytokines, and affecting the secretion of immunoglobulin and conduction of immune signals; anti-aging; anti-tumor by enhancing immunity, inducing apoptosis of tumor cells and inhibiting the proliferation and transfer of tumor cells; antiviral effects; regulation of blood glucose such as type I diabetes mellitus, type II diabetes mellitus and diabetic complications; lipid-lowering; anti-fibrosis; antimicrobial activities and anti-radiation. It provided theoretical basis for the further research such as its structure and mechanism of action, and clinical application of APS.
Project description:<i>Astragalus membranaceus</i> is a traditional Chinese medicine and has been used for adjuvant clinical therapy for a variety of cancers. However, the mechanism of its action on endometrial carcinoma is unclear. Based on the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database, the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, and the Traditional Chinese Medicine System Pharmacology Database (TCMSP™), the drug and target compounds were initially screened to construct a common network module. Twenty active compounds in <i>Astragalus membranaceus</i> were successfully identified, which hit by 463 potential targets related to endometrial cancer. Eight of the more highly predictive compounds (such as Jaranol, Bifendate, Isorhamnetin, Calycosin, 7-O-methylisomucronulatol, Formononetin, Kaempferol, Quercetin) were involved in DNA integrity checkpoint, cyclin-dependent protein kinase holoenzyme complex, and histone kinase activity. Additionally, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway confirmed that <i>Astragalus membranaceus</i> might play a role in the treatment of endometrial cancer through p53 signalling pathway, transcriptional misregulation in cancer, and endometrial cancer signalling pathway. Drug-target-pathway networks were constructed using Cytoscape to provide a visual perspective. In addition, we verified that formononetin inhibited the proliferation of endometrial cancer cells through cell viability tests and clone formation tests. And qPCR and western blot found that formononetin exerts anti-cancer effects by promoting the expression of estrogen receptor beta (ER<i>β</i>) and p53. Based on a systematic network pharmacology approach, our works successfully predict the active ingredients and potential targets of <i>Astragalus membranaceus</i> for application to endometrial cancer and helps to illustrate mechanism of action on a comprehensive level.
Project description:The complete nucleotide sequence of the <i>Astragalus membranaceus</i> (Fisch.) Bunge var. membranaceus chloroplast genome was reported and characterized in this study. The chloroplast genome is a circular molecule of 123623?bp that belongs to the inverted repeat-lacking clade (IRLC). It comprises 110 genes, including 76 protein-coding genes, four unique rRNAs and 30 tRNAs. Similar to the plastomes of <i>A. membranaceus</i> (Fisch.) Bunge var. mongholicus (Bunge) P. K. Hsiao and other closely related species, rpl22 and rps16 are absent. The phylogenetic analysis of 67 proteins from 29 chloroplast genomes belonging to IRLC provided strong support for the non-monophyly of Galegeae. This genome has provided a wealth of information for distinguishing varieties of <i>A. membranaceus</i>.
Project description:Astragalus membranaceus (Astragalus) is often used as a medical and food resource in China. The present study was designed to investigate the features and effects of polysaccharide from Astragalus membranaceus (WAP) on rats with antibiotic-associated diarrhea (AAD). WAP was mainly composed of glucose, galactose, arabinose and glacturonic acid, with glucan, arabinogalactan and RG-I regions, and it showed loosely irregular sheet conformation. WAP decreased the inflammatory cell infiltration of colon in AAD rats, increased propionate and butyrate production, improved metabolic levels, adjusted the diversity and composition of gut microbiota, increased the relative abundance of Pseudomonas, and decreased the relative abundance of Allobaculum and Coprococcus. In conclusion, WAP contained different types of polysaccharide regions and sheet three-dimensional conformation, while it ameliorated AAD by recovering the colon structure, adjusting the gut microbiota, and improving the SCFAs levels. The results can provide some data basis for natural products to alleviate the side effects related to antibiotics.
Project description:Astragalus is the largest genus in Leguminosae. Several molecular studies have investigated the potential adulterants of the species within this genus; nonetheless, the evolutionary relationships among these species remain unclear. Herein, we sequenced and annotated the complete chloroplast genomes of three <i>Astragalus</i> species-<i>Astragalus adsurgens</i>, <i>Astragalus mongholicus</i> var. <i>dahuricus</i>, and <i>Astragalus melilotoides</i> using next-generation sequencing technology and plastid genome annotator (PGA) tool. All species belonged to the inverted repeat lacking clade (IRLC) and had similar sequences concerning gene contents and characteristics. Abundant simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were detected, with single-nucleotide repeats accounting for the highest proportion of SSRs, most of which were A/T homopolymers. Using <i>Astragalus membranaceus</i> var. <i>membranaceus</i> as reference, the divergence was evident in most non-coding regions of the complete chloroplast genomes of these species. Seven genes (<i>atpB</i>, <i>psbD</i>, <i>rpoB</i>, <i>rpoC1</i>, <i>trnV</i>, <i>rrn16</i>, and <i>rrn23</i>) showed high nucleotide variability (Pi), and could be used as DNA barcodes for <i>Astragalus</i> sp. <i>cemA</i> and <i>rpl33</i> were found undergoing positive selection by the section patterns in the coded protein. Phylogenetic analysis showed that <i>Astragalus</i> is a monophyletic group closely related to the genus <i>Oxytropis</i> within the tribe Galegeae. The newly sequenced chloroplast genomes provide insight into the unresolved evolutionary relationships within <i>Astragalus</i> spp. and are expected to contribute to species identification.
Project description:HepG2 celline shows dowstream pathways change after drug treament. Overall design: Total RNA obtained from cultured HepG2 cells 24 hours after Codonopsis pilosula (D1-3) or Astragalus membranaceus (H1-3) aqueous extracts treament in vitro.
Project description:BACKGROUND:The skin provides a predominant barrier against chemical, physical and microbial incursion. The intemperate exposure to ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation can cause excessive cellular oxidative stress, leading to skin damage, proteins damage and mitochondrial dysfunction. There is sufficient evidences supporting the proposal that mitochondria is highly implicated in skin photo-damage. METHODS:In the present study, a polysaccharide isolated from Astragalus membranaceus was further purified to be an ?-glucan, which was further investigated its beneficial influence on UVA-induced photo-damage in HaCaT cells. RESULTS:Our results showed that the purified Astragalus membranaceus polysaccharide (AP) can protect HaCaT cells from UVA-induced photo-damage through reducing UVA-induced intracellular ROS production and mitochondrial membrane potential, thereby altering ATP content. It was found that the UVA induced damage in HaCaT cells could be effectively restored by co-treatment with AP. CONCLUSIONS:AP exhibited promising potential for advanced application as multifunctional skin care products and drugs.