Regulation of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin on biosynthesis of astragaloside IV

In the present study, the regulation of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (VHb) on astragaloside Ⅳ biosynthesis was investigated.  An intermediate expression vector consisting of the CaMV35S promoter fused to the vgb and nopaline synthase terminator was transferred into Astragalus membranaceus via Agrobacterium rhizogenes.  The transgenic hairy roots were confirmed by PCR amplification and Southern blot hybridization.  The expression of vgb in transgenic hairy roots was confirmed by RT-PCR.  After 15 days cultivation, the dry weight and growth rate of transgenic hairy roots were higher than that of the non-transgenic hairy root.  ELSD-HPLC analysis showed that astragaloside Ⅳcontent of transgenic hairy roots was 5 to 6 times of non-transgenic hairy root control and 10 to12 times of Radix Astragali from Shanxi Province.  These results suggested that the expression of vgb promoted the growth of transgenic hairy roots, and increased the content of astragaloside Ⅳ.