Chlorogenic Acid Metabolism: The Evolution and Roles in Plant Response to Abiotic Stress

Abstract

During the evolution, plants acquired the ability to synthesize different phenylpropanoid compounds like chlorogenic acid (CGA), which plays vital roles in resistance mechanisms to abiotic stresses. These environmental factors, including heavy metal, cold, heat, ultraviolet (UV) light, drought, and salinity affect the plant physiological processes, resulting in massive losses of agriculture production. As plants evolve from green algae to bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms, phenylpropanoids are produced and accumulated in different tissues, giving the plant the capacity to counteract the harmful effects of the adverse environments. Studies have been performed on the metabolic evolution of rosmarinic acid, flavonoids and lignin, showing that the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids begins in green algae until the emersion of genes found in angiosperms; however, the evolution of the CGA pathway has not yet been reviewed. We hypothesize that CGA could also be synthesized from algae to angiosperms. In the present review, the evolutionary analysis of CGA pathway and the function of this compound in plant tolerance to abiotic stresses are summarized. Bioinformatics analyzes were carried out on CGA-related genes across 37 plant species and revealed that the metabolic pathway starts in algae and gradually increases until it becomes complete in angiosperms. The key genes exhibited different expression patterns in stress and plant tissues. Interestingly, some genes accumulated rapidly during evolution and were more sensitive to environmental stresses, while others appeared only later in angiosperms. Further studies are needed to better understand the evolution of the CGA metabolic pathway in plants under environmentally stressed conditions.

Cultivar-dependent and drought-induced modulation of secondary metabolites, adaptative defense in Fagopyrum esculentum L

“…Enhanced chlorogenic acid accumulation, along with related esters involved in lignin biosynthesis, is recognized under abiotic stress in several plant species (Wang et al 2019 ; Sarker and Oba 2018 ). Chlorogenic acids, arising from esterification of caffeic, ferulic, and p-coumaric acids with quinic acid can exist in diverse isomeric forms due to structural variations (Soviguidi et al 2022 ). Vicinal hydroxyl groups on aromatic residues characterize chlorogenic acids (Liang and Kitts 2015 ).…”

The downside of metabolic diversity: Postingestive rearrangements by specialized insects

“…4 B ). At higher altitudes, with higher ultraviolet B (UV-B) fluence, plants from the Az accession would be selected for higher CA levels due to well-established sunscreen functions of CA ( 34 ). However, due to the detoxification process described here, Az plants would also be selected for lower HGL-DTG levels ( Fig.…”

Tree Physiological Variables as a Proxy of Heavy Metal and Platinum Group Elements Pollution in Urban Areas

“…On the other hand, the flavonoid content was negatively correlated with heavy metals (F1 and F3), and the only trees showing high flavonoid values were 4, 30 and 33, which did not show contamination for any of the elements studied ( Figure 2 ). This seems to contradict the role of flavonoids as indicators of abiotic stress, including heavy metal stress [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. However, it should be taken into account that, as occurred with the vitality variables, the pollution levels found in the city studied were modest, and thus the plant responses were only slight.…”

“…Probably, this was not due to a real pollution gradient but to other factors, such as the lower radiation received by the trees in the narrower streets of the city center. In fact, flavonoid content can be influenced by many different internal and environmental factors [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ]. In particular, the flavonoid index measured by the Dualex instrument is especially related to flavonols, which in turn are mostly dependent on UV radiation [ 31 ].…”

“…However, the information available on the relation between N content and metal pollution is scarce, including whether metal pollution is connected in some way with the sources of N emissions and a stable N isotopic ratio δ 15 N. Finally, flavonoids are a class of secondary metabolites, many of which possess antioxidant functions, which the plant uses in response to or to protect itself from abiotic and biotic adverse factors, such as excess light, ultraviolet radiation, oxidative damage, nutritional deficiencies, injuries, herbivores, etc. [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Therefore, higher flavonoid content generally indicates that the plant is responding to some stressor in order to avoid, as far as possible, the associated physiological damage.…”