Molecules 2017, 22(10), 1655; doi:10.3390/molecules22101655
Influence of Plant Growth Retardants on Quality of Codonopsis Radix
1
Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xingke Road 723, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510650, China
2
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.19A Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China
3
College of Food, South China Agricultural University, Wushan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510642, China
4
Tianfangjian (China) Pharmacy Company Ltd, 11 Xiancun Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510623, China
5
Infinitus (China) Company Ltd, 11 Xiancun Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou 510623, China
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 8 September 2017 / Revised: 28 September 2017 / Accepted: 1 October 2017 / Published: 9 October 2017
(This article belongs to the Collection Herbal Medicine Research)
Abstract
Plant growth retardant (PGR) refers to organics that can inhibit the cell division of plant stem tip sub-apical meristem cells or primordial meristem cell. They are widely used in the cultivation of rhizomatous functional plants; such as Codonopsis Radix, that is a famous Chinese traditional herb. However, it is still unclear whether PGR affects the medicinal quality of C. Radix. In the present study, amino acid analyses, targeted and non-targeted analyses by ultra-performance liquid chromatography combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-TOF-MS) and gas chromatography-MS were used to analyze and compare the composition of untreated C. Radix and C. Radix treated with PGR. The contents of two key bioactive compounds, lobetyolin and atractylenolide III, were not affected by PGR treatment. The amounts of polysaccharides and some internal volatiles were significantly decreased by PGR treatment; while the free amino acids content was generally increased. Fifteen metabolites whose abundance were affected by PGR treatment were identified by UPLC-TOF-MS. Five of the up-regulated compounds have been reported to show immune activity, which might contribute to the healing efficacy (“buqi”) of C. Radix. The results of this study showed that treatment of C. Radix with PGR during cultivation has economic benefits and affected some main bioactive compounds in C. Radix. View Full-TextKeywords:
amino acid; Codonopsis Radix; plant growth retardant; polysaccharide; volatile
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Liao, Y.; Zeng, L.; Li, P.; Sun, T.; Wang, C.; Li, F.; Chen, Y.; Du, B.; Yang, Z. Influence of Plant Growth Retardants on Quality of Codonopsis Radix. Molecules 2017, 22, 1655.
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