Asarum spp. are important medicinal plants that have the potential for use in treating various types of fevers. Aristolochic acid is one of the main toxic compounds present in these plants. To improve our understanding of the biosynthetic pathway of aristolochic acid, we sequenced the transcriptome of the root and leaf tissues of Asarum heterotropoides and performed de novo sequence assembly. The data were stitched together to produce 468,357 transcripts with an N50 of 611 bp. The data were annotated with various databases (RefSeq non-redundant proteins [Nr], Swiss-Prot, Kyoto Encyclopaedia of Genes and Genomes [KEGG], Clusters of Orthologous Groups/EuKaryotic Orthologous Groups [COG/KOG], and Gene Ontology [GO]) and were annotated. There were 205,165 transcripts (43.81%) of differentially expressed genes in the roots and leaves, which were shown to be involved in biosynthesis, transport, and catabolism, and 100 genes in defence mechanisms. Three candidate transcripts (TyrDC1, TyrDC2, and TyrDC3) were discovered in these differential genes. TyrDC may be a key enzyme in the biosynthesis pathway of aristolochic acid identified using quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The transcriptome data and analysis presented here lay the foundation for further research into these important medicinal plants.

Asari Radix et Rhizoma is commonly used in classic prescriptions of herbal medicine in several Asian countries for resuscitation, pain relief, and sore treatment, and Asarum heterotropoides (A. heterotropoides) is an important source material of Asari Radix et Rhizoma. However, the plants of the Asari Radix et Rhizoma and some plants in Asarum spp. contain aristolochic acid I (AAI), which is considered as a carcinogen. The objective of the current study is to detoxify Asarum spp. through microbial degradation of AAI in order to ensure drug safety. Based on the observation of the close correlation between endophytic fungi of A. heterotropoides and AAI, we identified an AAI-degrading fungus and screened for candidate genes involved in AAI degradation. Full-length O-demethylase genes (ODMs) were cloned including A.h-ODM-5, Fs-ODM-4, and Fs-ODM-1, and their ability to degrade AAI was tested in vitro. The results showed that the AAI-degrading fungus was identified as Neocosmospora solani (A.h-Fs-1, endophytic fungi of A. heterotropoides), and verified the capability of specific O-demethylation to modify the structure of AAI. We further identified the functional ODMs in A.h-Fs-1 capable of degrading AAI and uncovered the AAI degradation mechanism of A.h-Fs-1. The microbial degradation of AAI demonstrated in the present study offers a new method to detoxify plant materials used for herbal medicine, and would enhance the regulation of toxic ingredients content in herbal medicine source materials.