Short-term severe drought influences root volatile biosynthesis in eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L)

Abstract

Climate change-related drought stress is expected to shift carbon partitioning toward volatile organic compound (VOC) biosynthesis. The effect of drought stress on VOC synthesis remains unknown in several tree species. Therefore, we exposed eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) plants to severe drought for 32 days and performed physiological analysis (chlorophyll content, leaf water content, and root/shoot index), biochemical analysis (non-structural carbohydrates, proline, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant assay), and total root VOC analysis. Drought stress decreased the relative water and soil moisture contents. Root proline accumulation and antioxidant activity increased significantly, whereas leaf chlorophyll synthesis and fresh weight decreased significantly in drought-treated plants. A non-significant increase in sugar accumulation (leaves and roots), proline accumulation (leaves), antioxidant activity (leaves), and lipid peroxidation (leaves and roots) was observed in drought-treated plants. Drought stress caused a non-significant decline in root/shoot ratio and starch accumulation (leaves and roots) and caused a significant increase in root abscisic acid content. Drought-treated plants showed an increase in overall monoterpene synthesis (16%) and decline in total sesquiterpene synthesis (3%). Our findings provide an overall assessment of the different responses of VOC synthesis to severe water deficit that may help unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying drought tolerance in P. strobus.

Physiological responses to drought stress of three pine species and comparative transcriptome analysis of Pinus yunnanensis var. pygmaea

“…Once drought ceased, C allocation to storage was still prioritized at the expense of growth [ 46 ]. Severe drought treatment largely reduced photosynthetic carbon assimilation [ 47 ]. Plants may have allocated more NSC from source organs to roots [ 48 ].…”

CfCHLM, from Cryptomeria fortunei, Promotes Chlorophyll Synthesis and Improves Tolerance to Abiotic Stresses in Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

“…In this study, the expression of CfCHLM in C. fortunei was shown to be downregulated under abiotic stress, and the downregulation of the CHLM gene may have inhibited the synthesis of chl. Many studies have shown that the synthesis of chl is inhibited under various abiotic stresses [28][29][30][31], which demonstrates the downregulation of the CfCHLM gene in response to stress.…”

Modeling the effect of daytime duration on the biosynthesis of terpenoid precursors

“…This research should develop, analyze, and integrate detailed models of the biosynthetic pathways for those terpenoids with the MVA and MEP pathway models. That development and integration should take into account that certain terpenoids are synthesized using material that is drawn mainly from only one of the pathways (Qiao et al, 2021;Yang et al, 2012;Rodríguez-Concepción et al, 2004;Wu et al, 2021;Chandrasekaran et al, 2022;Liu et al, 2024). MVA-derived isoprenoid end products in plants are sterols and cytokinins that modulate membrane architecture, plant growth and development, and brassinosteroids that work as steroid hormones.…”