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The Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stress

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A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Physiology and Metabolism".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 October 2022) | Viewed by 16180

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rahmatullah Jan

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Guest Editor

Department of Applied Biosciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Interests: flavonoid biosynthesis; antioxidant regulation; UV radiation and drought stress; hormonal signaling; QTL mapping; transcriptomic; cloning; gene editing; tissue culture
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Marcello Salvatore Lenucci

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Guest Editor

Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali (Di.S.Te.B.A.), Università del Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: secondary metabolism; antioxidants; plastid differentiation; plant cell wall architecture; abiotic stress; extraction of bioactives from plant organs; sub- and supercritical fluids; development of innovative functional foods

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant secondary metabolites play important roles in plant survival and in creating ecological connections with other species. In addition to providing a variety of valuable natural products, secondary metabolites help protect plants against pathogenic attacks and environmental stresses. Given their sessile nature, plants must protect themselves from such situations through accumulation of these bioactive compounds. Indeed, secondary metabolites act as herbivore deterrents, barriers against pathogen invasion, and mitigators of oxidative stress. The accumulation of SMs is highly dependent on environmental factors, such as light, temperature, soil water, soil fertility, and salinity. For most plants, a change in an individual environmental factor can alter the content of secondary metabolites, even if other factors remain constant. Due to their static nature, plants activate their defense system in response to environmental constraints and regulate their biochemical, physiological, and transcriptional machinery. Research surrounding secondary metabolites gives us important understanding of the control of plant development, structure, and function. Most of the mechanisms and pathways which are studied are related the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites; however, much remains to be discovered. This Special Issue will highlight the biosynthesis of novel secondary metabolites, their functional characterization, biosynthesis pathways, and the regulation of their related genes against biotic and abiotic stress.

Dr. Rahmatullah Jan
Dr. Marcello Salvatore Lenucci
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

secondary metabolites
biotic and abiotic stress
biosynthesis pathways
transcriptional regulation
hormonal regulation
antioxidant induction

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 3809 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Identification of the OsCML4 Gene in Rice Related to Salt Stress Using QTL Analysis

by Saleem Asif, Eun-Gyeong Kim, Yoon-Hee Jang, Rahmatullah Jan, Nari Kim, Sajjad Asaf, Lubna, Muhammad Farooq and Kyung-Min Kim

Plants 2022, 11(19), 2467; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11192467 - 21 Sep 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1614

Abstract

Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress that causes disastrous losses in crop yields. To identify favorable alleles that enhance the salinity resistance of rice (Oryza sativa L.) crops, a set of 120 Cheongcheong Nagdong double haploid (CNDH) lines derived from a cross between the Indica variety Cheongcheong and the Japonica variety Nagdong were used. A total of 23 QTLs for 8 different traits related to salinity resistance on chromosomes 1–3 and 5–12 were identified at the seedling stage. A QTL related to the salt injury score (SIS), qSIS-3b, had an LOD score of six within the interval RM3525–RM15904 on chromosome 3, and a phenotypic variation of 31% was further examined for the candidate genes. Among all the CNDH populations, five resistant lines (CNDH 27, CNDH 34-1, CNDH 64, CNDH 78, and CNDH 112), five susceptible lines (CNDH 52-1, CNDH 67, CNDH 69, CNDH 109, and CNDH 110), and the parent lines Cheongcheong and Nagdong were selected for relative gene expression analysis. Among all the genes, two candidate genes were highly upregulated in resistant lines, including the auxin-responsive protein IAA13 (Os03g0742900) and the calmodulin-like protein 4 (Os03g0743500-1). The calmodulin-like protein 4 (Os03g0743500-1) showed a higher expression in all the resistant lines than in the susceptible lines and a high similarity with other species in sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree, and it also showed a protein–protein interaction with other important proteins. The genes identified in our study will provide new genetic resources for improving salt resistance in rice using molecular breeding strategies in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stress)

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28 pages, 5097 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Silicon-Induced Tolerance against Arsenic Toxicity by Activating Physiological, Anatomical and Biochemical Regulation in Phoenix dactylifera (Date Palm)

by Taimoor Khan, Saqib Bilal, Sajjad Asaf, Safiya Salim Alamri, Muhammad Imran, Abdul Latif Khan, Ahmed Al-Rawahi, In-Jung Lee and Ahmed Al-Harrasi

Plants 2022, 11(17), 2263; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11172263 - 31 Aug 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2115

Abstract

Arsenic is a toxic metal abundantly present in agricultural, industrial, and pesticide effluents. To overcome arsenic toxicity and ensure safety for plant growth, silicon (Si) can play a significant role in its mitigation. Here, we aim to investigate the influence of silicon on date palm under arsenic toxicity by screening antioxidants accumulation, hormonal modulation, and the expression profile of abiotic stress-related genes. The results showed that arsenic exposure (As: 1.0 mM) significantly retarded growth attributes (shoot length, root length, fresh weight), reduced photosynthetic pigments, and raised reactive species levels. Contrarily, exogenous application of Si (Na₂SiO₃) to date palm roots strongly influenced stress mitigation by limiting the translocation of arsenic into roots and shoots as compared with the arsenic sole application. Furthermore, an enhanced accumulation of polyphenols (48%) and increased antioxidant activities (POD: 50%, PPO: 75%, GSH: 26.1%, CAT: 51%) resulted in a significant decrease in superoxide anion (O₂^•−: 58%) and lipid peroxidation (MDA: 1.7-fold), in silicon-treated plants, compared with control and arsenic-treated plants. The Si application also reduced the endogenous abscisic acid (ABA: 38%) under normal conditions, and salicylic acid (SA: 52%) and jasmonic acid levels (JA: 62%) under stress conditions as compared with control and arsenic. Interestingly, the genes; zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZEP) and 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (NCED-1) involved in ABA biosynthesis were upregulated by silicon under arsenic stress. Likewise, Si application also upregulated gene expression of plant plasma membrane ATPase (PMMA-4), aluminum-activated malate transporter (ALMT) responsible for maintaining cellular physiology, stomatal conductance, and short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (SDR) involved in nutrients translocation. Hence, the study demonstrates the remarkable role of silicon in supporting growth and inducing arsenic tolerance by increasing antioxidant activities and endogenous hormones in date palm. The outcomes of our study can be employed in further studies to better understand arsenic tolerance and decode mechanism. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stress)

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14 pages, 2322 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biopriming of Maize Seeds with a Novel Bacterial Strain SH-6 to Enhance Drought Tolerance in South Korea

by Shifa Shaffique, Muhammad Aaqil Khan, Shabir Hussain Wani, Muhammad Imran, Sang-Mo Kang, Anjali Pande, Arjun Adhikari, Eun-Hae Kwon and In-Jung Lee

Plants 2022, 11(13), 1674; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11131674 - 24 Jun 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2344

Abstract

Maize is the third most common cereal crop worldwide, after rice and wheat, and plays a vital role in preventing global hunger crises. Approximately 50% of global crop yields are reduced by drought stress. Bacteria as biostimulants for biopriming can improve yield and enhance sustainable food production. Further, seed biopriming stimulates plant defense mechanisms. In this study, we isolated bacteria from the rhizosphere of Artemisia plants from Pohang beach, Daegu, South Korea. Twenty-three isolates were isolated and screened for growth promoting potential. Among them, bacterial isolate SH-6 was selected based on maximum induced tolerance to polyethylene glycol-simulated drought. SH-6 showed ABA concentration = 1.06 ± 0.04 ng/mL, phosphate solubilizing index = 3.7, and sucrose concentration = 0.51 ± 0.13 mg/mL. The novel isolate SH-6 markedly enhanced maize seedling tolerance to oxidative stress owing to the presence of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase activities in the culture media. Additionally, we quantified and standardized the biopriming effect of SH-6 on maize seeds. SH-6 significantly increased maize seedling drought tolerance by up to 20%, resulting in 80% germination potential. We concluded that the novel bacterium isolate SH-6 (gene accession number (OM757882) is a biostimulant that can improve germination performance under drought stress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stress)

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Review

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27 pages, 2790 KiB

Open AccessReview

Diverse Physiological Roles of Flavonoids in Plant Environmental Stress Responses and Tolerance

by Aida Shomali, Susmita Das, Namira Arif, Mohammad Sarraf, Noreen Zahra, Vaishali Yadav, Sasan Aliniaeifard, Devendra Kumar Chauhan and Mirza Hasanuzzaman

Plants 2022, 11(22), 3158; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11223158 - 18 Nov 2022

Cited by 58 | Viewed by 4730

Abstract

Flavonoids are characterized as the low molecular weight polyphenolic compounds universally distributed in planta. They are a chemically varied group of secondary metabolites with a broad range of biological activity. The increasing amount of evidence has demonstrated the various physiological functions of flavonoids in stress response. In this paper, we provide a brief introduction to flavonoids’ biochemistry and biosynthesis. Then, we review the recent findings on the alternation of flavonoid content under different stress conditions to come up with an overall picture of the mechanism of involvement of flavonoids in plants’ response to various abiotic stresses. The participation of flavonoids in antioxidant systems, flavonoid-mediated response to different abiotic stresses, the involvement of flavonoids in stress signaling networks, and the physiological response of plants under stress conditions are discussed in this review. Moreover, molecular and genetic approaches to tailoring flavonoid biosynthesis and regulation under abiotic stress are addressed in this review. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stress)

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18 pages, 1218 KiB

Open AccessReview

Bioactivity and Therapeutic Potential of Kaempferol and Quercetin: New Insights for Plant and Human Health

by Rahmatullah Jan, Murtaza Khan, Sajjad Asaf, Lubna, Saleem Asif and Kyung-Min Kim

Plants 2022, 11(19), 2623; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants11192623 - 05 Oct 2022

Cited by 47 | Viewed by 4494

Abstract

Plant secondary metabolites, especially flavonoids, are major metabolites widely found in plants that play several key roles in plant defence and signalling in response to stress conditions. The most studied among these flavonoids are kaempferol and quercetin due to their anti-oxidative potential and their key roles in the defence system, making them more critical for plant adaptation in stress environments. Kaempferol and quercetin in plants have great therapeutic potential for human health. Despite being well-studied, some of their functional aspects regarding plants and human health need further evaluation. This review summarizes the emerging potential of kaempferol and quercetin in terms of antimicrobial activity, bioavailability and bioactivity in the human body as well as in the regulation of plant defence in response to stresses and as a signalling molecule in terms of hormonal modulation under stress conditions. We also evaluated the safe use of both metabolites in the pharmaceutical industry. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Regulation of Plant Secondary Metabolism in Response to Biotic and Abiotic Stress)

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