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Role of Secondary Metabolites in Plant Response to Abiotic Stresses

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Plant Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 9726

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Research Centre for Cereal and Industrial Crops, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Foggia, Italy
Interests: plant physiology and biochemistry; functional analysis of genes; abiotic stress; oxidative stress; secondary metabolites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plants produce a large number of secondary metabolites, which play a crucial role in important processes related to the plant fitness. These compounds can essentially be divided into three main groups based on their structure and their metabolic biosynthetic pathway: phenolic compounds, terpenoids, and nitrogen-containing compounds, i.e., alkaloids and glucosinolates. Increasing evidence has accumulated over the last few decades on the involvement of secondary metabolites in the plant adaptation to the changing environment and abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, high and low temperatures, heavy metals, etc. However, much still needs to be investigated on this subject. In this context, the purpose of this Special Issue is to collect the recent studies on the physiological, biochemical, and molecular mechanisms underlying the role of secondary metabolites in counteracting the deleterious effects of abiotic stresses on plant growth and productivity. The information provided here will be useful for future investigations on the manipulation of the biosynthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites in plants and for the breeding programs aimed at enahncing the abiotic stress tolerance of plants and ensuring sustainable crop production under a changing climate.

Dr. Daniela Trono
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • plant secondary metabolites
  • abiotic stresses
  • climatate changes
  • phenolics
  • terpenoids
  • alkaloids
  • glucosinolates
  • drought
  • salinity
  • light
  • temperature
  • heavy metals

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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20 pages, 2574 KiB  
Article
Light Drives and Temperature Modulates: Variation of Phenolic Compounds Profile in Relation to Photosynthesis in Spring Barley
by Daniel Vrábl, Jakub Nezval, Radomír Pech, Adriana Volná, Petra Mašková, Jan Pleva, Nikola Kuzniciusová, Michaela Provazová, Michal Štroch and Vladimír Špunda
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(3), 2427; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24032427 - 26 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2724
Abstract
Accumulation and metabolic profile of phenolic compounds (PheCs; serving as UV-screening pigments and antioxidants) as well as carbon fixation rate (An) and plant growth are sensitive to irradiance and temperature. Since these factors are naturally co-acting in the environment, it is [...] Read more.
Accumulation and metabolic profile of phenolic compounds (PheCs; serving as UV-screening pigments and antioxidants) as well as carbon fixation rate (An) and plant growth are sensitive to irradiance and temperature. Since these factors are naturally co-acting in the environment, it is worthy to study the combined effects of these environmental factors to assess their possible physiological consequences. We investigated how low and high irradiance in combination with different temperatures modify the metabolic profile of PheCs and expression of genes involved in the antioxidative enzyme and PheCs biosynthesis, in relation to photosynthetic activity and availability of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in spring barley seedlings. High irradiance positively affected An, NSC, PheCs content, and antioxidant activity (AOX). High temperature led to decreased An, NSC, and increased dark respiration, whilst low temperature was accompanied by reduction of UV-A shielding but increase of PheCs content and AOX. Besides that, irradiance and temperature caused changes in the metabolic profile of PheCs, particularly alteration in homoorientin/isovitexin derivatives ratio, possibly related to demands on AOX-based protection. Moreover, we also observed changes in the ratio of sinapoyl-/feruloyl- acylated flavonoids, the function of which is not yet known. The data also strongly suggested that the NSC content may support the PheCs production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Secondary Metabolites in Plant Response to Abiotic Stresses)
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30 pages, 4152 KiB  
Article
Regulation of Phenolic Compound Production by Light Varying in Spectral Quality and Total Irradiance
by Radomír Pech, Adriana Volná, Lena Hunt, Martin Bartas, Jiří Červeň, Petr Pečinka, Vladimír Špunda and Jakub Nezval
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(12), 6533; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23126533 - 10 Jun 2022
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6246
Abstract
Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is an important environmental cue inducing the production of many secondary metabolites involved in plant oxidative stress avoidance and tolerance. To examine the complex role of PAR irradiance and specific spectral components on the accumulation of phenolic compounds (PheCs), [...] Read more.
Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is an important environmental cue inducing the production of many secondary metabolites involved in plant oxidative stress avoidance and tolerance. To examine the complex role of PAR irradiance and specific spectral components on the accumulation of phenolic compounds (PheCs), we acclimated spring barley (Hordeum vulgare) to different spectral qualities (white, blue, green, red) at three irradiances (100, 200, 400 µmol m−2 s−1). We confirmed that blue light irradiance is essential for the accumulation of PheCs in secondary barley leaves (in UV-lacking conditions), which underpins the importance of photoreceptor signals (especially cryptochrome). Increasing blue light irradiance most effectively induced the accumulation of B-dihydroxylated flavonoids, probably due to the significantly enhanced expression of the F3H gene. These changes in PheC metabolism led to a steeper increase in antioxidant activity than epidermal UV-A shielding in leaf extracts containing PheCs. In addition, we examined the possible role of miRNAs in the complex regulation of gene expression related to PheC biosynthesis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Role of Secondary Metabolites in Plant Response to Abiotic Stresses)
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