Plants adapt to metal stress by modifying their metabolism including the production of secondary metabolites in plant tissues. Such changes may impact the diversity and functions of plant associated microbial communities. Our study aimed to evaluate the influence of metals on the secondary metabolism of plants and the indirect impact on rhizosphere bacterial communities. We then compared the secondary metabolites of the hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L. collected from a contaminated mining site to a non-contaminated site in Vietnam and identified the discriminant metabolites. Our data showed a significant increase in chlorogenic acid derivatives and A-type procyanidin in plant roots at the contaminated site. We hypothesized that the intensive production of these compounds could be part of the antioxidant defense mechanism in response to metals. In parallel, the structure and diversity of bulk soil and rhizosphere communities was studied using high-throughput sequencing. The results showed strong differences in bacterial composition, characterized by the dominance of Proteobacteria and Nitrospira in the contaminated bulk soil, and the enrichment of some potential human pathogens, i.e., Acinetobacter, Mycobacterium, and Cupriavidus in P. vittata's rhizosphere at the mining site. Overall, metal pollution modified the production of P. vittata secondary metabolites and altered the diversity and structure of bacterial communities. Further investigations are needed to understand whether the plant recruits specific bacteria to adapt to metal stress.
The gas-phase structures of the fruit ester methyl hexanoate, CH3-O-(C=O)-C5H11, have been determined using a combination of molecular jet Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy and quantum chemistry. The microwave spectrum was measured in the frequency range of 3 to 23 GHz. Two conformers were assigned, one with Cs symmetry and the other with C1 symmetry where the γ-carbon atom of the hexyl chain is in a gauche orientation in relation to the carbonyl bond. Splittings of all rotational lines into doublets were observed due to internal rotation of the methoxy methyl group CH3-O, from which torsional barriers of 417 cm−1 and 415 cm−1, respectively, could be deduced. Rotational constants obtained from geometry optimizations at various levels of theory were compared to the experimental values, confirming the soft degree of freedom of the (C=O)-C bond observed for the C1 conformer of shorter methyl alkynoates like methyl butyrate and methyl valerate. Comparison of the barriers to methyl internal rotation of methyl hexanoate to those of other CH3-O-(C=O)-R molecules leads to the conclusion that though the barrier height is relatively constant at about 420 cm−1, it decreases in molecules with longer R.
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