Salvia miltiorrhiza is one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicinal plants because of its excellent performance in treating heart diseases. Tanshinones and phenolic acids are two important classes of effective metabolites, and their biosynthesis has attracted widespread interest. Here, we functionally characterized SmGRAS1 and SmGRAS2, two GRAS family transcription factors from S. miltiorrhiza. SmGRAS1/2 were highly expressed in the root periderm, where tanshinones mainly accumulated in S. miltiorrhiza. Overexpression of SmGRAS1/2 upregulated tanshinones accumulation and downregulated GA, phenolic acids contents, and root biomass. However, antisense expression of SmGRAS1/2 reduced the tanshinones accumulation and increased the GA, phenolic acids contents, and root biomass. The expression patterns of biosynthesis genes were consistent with the changes in compounds accumulation. GA treatment increased tanshinones, phenolic acids, and GA contents in the overexpression lines, and restored the root growth inhibited by overexpressing SmGRAS1/2. Subsequently, yeast one-hybrid, dual-luciferase, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) showed SmGRAS1 promoted tanshinones biosynthesis by directly binding to the GARE motif in the SmKSL1 promoter and activating its expression. Yeast two-hybrid assays showed SmGRAS1 interacted physically with SmGRAS2. Taken together, the results revealed that SmGRAS1/2 acted as repressors in root growth and phenolic acids biosynthesis but as positive regulators in tanshinones biosynthesis. Overall, our findings revealed the potential value of SmGRAS1/2 in genetically engineering changes in secondary metabolism.
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