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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology
Sub-lethal levels of electric current elicit the biosynthesis of plant secondary metabolites
Biotechnology Progress, Volume 24, No. 2, Year 2008
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Description
Many secondary metabolites that are normally undetectable or in low amounts in healthy plant tissue are synthesized in high amounts in response to microbial infection. Various abiotic and biotic agents have been shown to mimic microorganisms and act as elicitors of the synthesis of these plant compounds. In the present study, sub-lethal levels of electric current are shown to elicit the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in transgenic and non-transgenic plant tissue. The production of the phytoalexin (+)-pisatin by pea was used as the main model system. Non-transgenic pea hairy roots treated with 30-100 mA of electric current produced 13 times higher amounts of (+)-pisatin than did the non-elicited controls. Electrically elicited transgenic pea hairy root cultures blocked at various enzymatic steps in the (+)-pisatin biosynthetic pathway also accumulated intermediates preceding the blocked enzymatic step. Secondary metabolites not usually produced by pea accumulated in some of the transgenic root cultures after electric elicitation due to the diversion of the intermediates into new pathways. The amount of pisatin in the medium bathing the roots of electro-elicited roots of hydroponically cultivated pea plants was 10 times higher 24 h after elicitation than in the medium surrounding the roots of non-elicited control plants, showing not only that the electric current elicited (+)-pisatin biosynthesis but also that the (+)-pisatin was released from the roots. Seedlings, intact roots or cell suspension cultures of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), barrel medic, (Medicago truncatula), Arabidopsis thaliana, red clover (Trifolium pratense) and chickpea (Cicer arietinum) also produced increased levels of secondary metabolites in response to electro-elicitation. On the basis of our results, electric current would appear to be a general elicitor of plant secondary metabolites and to have potential for application in both basic and commercial research. © 2008 American Chemical Society and American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
Authors & Co-Authors
Kaimoyo, Evans
United States, Tucson
The University of Arizona
Farag, Mohamed Ali
United States, Ardmore
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Egypt, Cairo
Faculty of Pharmacy
Sumner, Lloyd W.
United States, Ardmore
Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
Wasmann, Catherine
United States, Tucson
The University of Arizona
Cuello, Joel L.
United States, Tucson
The University of Arizona
VanEtten, Hans
United States, Tucson
The University of Arizona
Statistics
Citations: 48
Authors: 6
Affiliations: 3
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1021/bp0703329
ISSN:
87567938