The research team led by Prof. Guangtao Zhu from the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Yunnan Normal University, in collaboration with the team of Prof. Junbo Gou from Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, published a research article entitled “Multi-omics dissection of the structural and biosynthetic diversity of steroidal glycoalkaloids in wild potatoes” in Plant Physiology.
A total of 68 potato accessions representing 46 different species were collected and prepared for this study and cultivated in Jiupobiotech growth chambers. This work provides valuable theoretical insights and genetic resources for understanding the evolution of secondary metabolites in potato and for harnessing wild germplasm resources in crop improvement.
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Potato is the fourth most important food crop worldwide and plays a critical role in ensuring global food security and nutritional supply. Steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs) are a class of alkaloids unique to Solanaceae crops (including potato, tomato, and eggplant) and function in plant defense against insects and pathogens, making them a longstanding focus in potato biological research. Through metabolomic analysis of 68 wild potato germplasms, the study identified 64 SGAs, which were classified into three major structural types: solanidane-type, spirosolane 22αN-type, and spirosolane 22βN-type. Significant variation in SGA composition and content was observed among different germplasms, forming five metabolic clusters that were correlated with species evolutionary groupings.
Figure 1: Regulatory pathways underlying the diversity of steroidal glycoalkaloids.
In this study, a high-quality potato pan-transcriptome was constructed for the first time, leading to the identification of 4,848 novel genes and providing a foundational resource for functional genomics research. By integrating metabolomic and transcriptomic data, 193 candidate genes potentially involved in SGA structural modification were identified. Among them, five 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases (2ODDs) and the GAME25 gene were found to influence SGA structural variation. Notably, GAME31-like-1 specifically catalyzes the C-23 hydroxylation of spirosolane 22αN-type SGAs. Through transient expression assays in tobacco, in vitro enzymatic activity assays, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses, the study confirmed that GAME31-like-1 preferentially catalyzes glycosylated α-solasonine rather than solasodine, indicating that hydroxylation occurs subsequent to glycosylation. This research successfully established a comprehensive “metabolite–gene” landscape of wild potato germplasm, expanding our understanding of the structural diversity of SGAs in wild potatoes. The findings provide important references for elucidating the biosynthetic and regulatory mechanisms of SGAs and lay a solid foundation for the efficient production of steroidal glycoalkaloids using synthetic biology approaches.
Figure 2: Functional validation of GAME31-like genes.
By employing innovative multi-omics strategies, this study systematically revealed for the first time the extensive chemical diversity of SGAs in wild potatoes and constructed a high-quality pan-transcriptome to support the dissection of their genetic basis. The distribution patterns of SGAs among different wild species were clarified, and key candidate genes regulating their structural diversity were identified through integrated metabolite–gene association analyses. Through biochemical and structural biology experiments, a novel dioxygenase, GAME31-like-1, was characterized as catalyzing C-23 hydroxylation of specific SGAs, thereby refining the SGA biosynthetic pathway and providing new insights into the evolutionary mechanisms of plant secondary metabolism. The metabolite–gene atlas and newly characterized functional genes generated in this study establish a foundation for utilizing wild potato genetic resources to develop high-resistance and high-quality potato cultivars through molecular breeding and synthetic biology.
About the Authors
Dr. Zhong Zhang, a postdoctoral researcher at the Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Yingmei Wu, a Ph.D. candidate at Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, are the co–first authors of this article. Prof. Guangtao Zhu from Yunnan Normal University and Prof. Junbo Gou from Hubei University of Chinese Medicine are the co–corresponding authors. This work was supported by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Major Program, the National Key R&D Program of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.