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A comparative study of bioactive secondary metabolite production in diploid and tetraploid Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench

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Abstract

The impact of the ploidy level on biomass accumulation and the production of high-value secondary metabolites was studied in Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench. Tetraploid E. purpurea was obtained by treating diploid explants with colchicine. The morphology, biomass yield, the contents of caffeic acid derivatives and alkamides, and the activities of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) and cinnamate 4-hydroxylase (C4H) were compared between diploid plants and tetraploid plants of E. purpurea. The total fresh root weight and total dry root weight of the tetraploid plants were 39.32 and 40.48 % higher than those of the diploid plants, respectively. The chemical profiles of the diploid and tetraploid E. purpurea plants were similar, as determined through a comparison of their FTIR spectra and second derivative spectra. The caffeic acid derivatives and alkamides in the diploid and tetraploid plants were determined by HPLC. The tetraploid plants had higher contents of both of these types of molecules. In addition, the tetraploid plants had higher PAL and C4H activities compared with the diploid plants. The enhancement in the PAL and C4H activities was accompanied with an increase in the cichoric acid content, which indicates that the induction of polyploidy in E. purpurea resulted in higher PAL and C4H expression and promoted the biosynthesis of cichoric acid. Therefore, the induction of polyploidy may be a valid strategy to achieve a higher yield of biomass and bioactive compounds in E. purpurea.

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Acknowledgements

This research study was funded by grants from a special program for Enterprise, University, and Research Institute Cooperation of Guangdong Province and the Ministry of Education of China (No. 2008B090500250) and from the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, China (No. 2011B031700026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Chuan-gui Xu, Rong Chen, Chun-hui Liang, Xiang-yu Liu, Chuan-long Wu, Yue-sheng Yang & Hong Wu

  2. Guangdong Key Laboratory for Innovative Development and Utilization of Forest Plant Germplasm, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, 510642, China

    Chuan-gui Xu & Hong Wu

  3. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Tie-xin Tang & De-po Yang

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  1. Chuan-gui Xu
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  2. Tie-xin Tang
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  3. Rong Chen
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  4. Chun-hui Liang
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  5. Xiang-yu Liu
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  6. Chuan-long Wu
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  7. Yue-sheng Yang
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  8. De-po Yang
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  9. Hong Wu
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Correspondence to Hong Wu.

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Chuan-gui Xu and Tie-xin Tang are co-first authors.

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Xu, Cg., Tang, Tx., Chen, R. et al. A comparative study of bioactive secondary metabolite production in diploid and tetraploid Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 116, 323–332 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-013-0406-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-013-0406-z

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