Drought stress adaptation modulates plant secondary metabolite production in Salvia dolomitica Codd

Abstract

Sages are important medicinal and aromatic plants. While Salvia officinalis and S. miltiorrhiza have been widely studied, poor information are available on S. dolomitica which is recently addressing attention for its antiplasmodial and anti-inflammatory properties. The current study investigated the performances and the metabolic profile of this minor species in response to drought stress. Plants were exposed to three treatments: control, moderate drought stress, or severe drought stress.Changes in growth and ecophysiological traits, in active and volatile compounds, and essential oils production were determined. As the terpenoids are the most representative class of secondary metabolites, the gene expression of key enzymes of terpenoid biosynthesis has been also investigated. Moderate drought induced a drop of leaf water potential, growth, and stomatal conductance, while an increase of deyhdrin expression level. However, serious stress symptoms such as decrease of net photosynthesis and transpiration rate and increase of endogenous abscisic acid were observed only in severe drought stressed plants. Both drought stress conditions lead to modulate the expression of some genes involved in BVOCs and EOs biosynthesis and the metabolic profile. In particular, drought induced an increase of sesquiterpenes, a class of terpenoids with high importance in food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. Thus, we can speculate that moderate drought stress, in addition to allowing water savings during cultivation, can lead to an improvement in the production of secondary metabolites in S. dolomitica.

New Tricks for Old Guys: Recent Developments in the Chemistry, Biochemistry, Applications and Exploitation of Selected Species from the Lamiaceae Family

“…[184] Authors recommend the cultivation of S. lavandulifolia, T. capitatus and T. mastichina, because there are no differences in essential content, but if there is a water-saving rate of 30 %, while the essential oil content decreased in L. latifolia and S. sclarea plants under water deficit conditions. EO content and quality of L. angustifolia and S. fruticosa seemed to increase under water stress conditions in a study of Chrysargyris et al [185] This behavior is confirmed also for S. dolomitica, [186] S. officinalis, [187] S. sinaloensis [188] and some Greek Oregano populations. [189] Foliar application of salicylic acid under water stress conditions increase EO content on T. kotschyanus.…”

“…EO content and quality of L. angustifolia and S. fruticosa seemed to increase under water stress conditions in a study of Chrysargyris et al . This behavior is confirmed also for S. dolomitica , S. officinalis , S. sinaloensis and some Greek Oregano populations . Foliar application of salicylic acid under water stress conditions increase EO content on T. kotschyanus .…”

The role of volatiles in plant communication

“…In a very different study, a similar phenomenon was demonstrated. Drought increased the level of ABA in Salvia dolomitica and increased the production of sesquiterpenes and the expression of FDP synthase that produces the substrate for sesquiterpene biosynthesis (Caser et al ., ). In a study on the influence of salt on volatile emission from tomato leaves, however, the results are less clear (Zhang et al ., ).…”

Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Modulate the Crop Performance and Metabolic Profile of Saffron in Soilless Cultivation

“…The phytochemical characterisation of each sample was performed as previously described by Caser et al [48,49]. Briefly, the total anthocyanin content (TAC) was determined using the pH-differential method.…”