Volume 11 (2024) | Issue 5
Volume 11 (2024) | Issue 5
Volume 11 (2024) | Issue 5
Volume 11 (2024) | Issue 5
Volume 11 (2024) | Issue 4
Abstract: Citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) is a medicinal and aromatic plant. Its medicinal value is due to presence of volatile esters citronellyl acetate and geranyl acetate, as constituents of essential oil in citronella is catalyzed by a single acyltransferase designated as CAAT that belongs to BAHD family of acyltransferases. In this study DFGWG motif was recorded which is highly conserved in BAHDs family. Two member genes (CBL-AAT and CML-AAT) of BAHD family of acyltransferases (AATs) specifically associated with secondary metabolism ester synthesis were identified. The interesting differential expression in different tissues/stages and response to treatments (high expression of CBL-AAT but not of CML-AAT in young leaf, suppression of CBL-AAT but over-expression of CML-AAT by mechanical injury, very substantial up-regulation of CBLAAT in very young leaf but little/limited up-regulation of CML-AAT) of the two BAHDs suggested their differential physiological/metabolic role, hypothesized to be categoric as CBL-AAT for volatile esters (monoterpenoids and phenylropanoids) and CML-AAT for non-volatile secondary metabolites (anthocyanins etc.). The two genes, CBL-AAT, CMLAAT were identified and characterized from citronella leaf pertain to be the first report of any metabolic pathway gene from the Cymbopogon grasses in general and citronella (Cymbopogon winterianus) in particular.