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Salicylic acid-induced changes to growth and phenolic metabolism in Matricaria chamomilla plants

  • Physiology and Biochemistry
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Abstract

The influence of salicylic acid (SA) doses of 50 and 250 μM, for a period of up to 7 days, on selected physiological aspects and the phenolic metabolism of Matricaria chamomilla plants was studied. SA exhibited both growth-promoting (50 μM) and growth-inhibiting (250 μM) properties, the latter being correlated with decrease of chlorophylls, water content and soluble proteins. In terms of phenolic metabolism, it seems that the higher SA dose has a toxic effect, based on the sharp increase in phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity (24 h after application), which is followed by an increase in total soluble phenolics, lignin accumulation and the majority of the 11 detected phenolic acids. Guaiacol-peroxidase activity was elevated throughout the experiment in 250 μM SA-treated plants. In turn, some responses can be explained by mechanisms associated with oxidative stress tolerance; these mitigate acute SA stress (which is indicated by an increase in malondialdehyde content). However, PAL activity decreased with prolonged exposure to SA, indicating its inhibition. Accumulation of coumarin-related compounds (umbelliferone and herniarin) was not affected by SA treatments, while (Z)- and (E)-2-β-d-glucopyranosyloxy-4-methoxycinnamic acids increased in the 250 μM SA-treated rosettes. Free SA content in the rosettes increased significantly only in the 250 μM SA treatment, with levels tending to decrease towards the end of the experiment and the opposite trend was observed in the roots.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA (1/3260/06), the Czech Ministry of Education (MSM 6198959216) and partially by the grant of P. J. Šafárik University rector for young scientists (to JK, grant VVGS 4/07-08). The authors thank Mrs. Anna Michalčová, Bc. Lucia Tomková and Bc. František Štork for their excellent technical assistance. Thanks also to Sees-editing Ltd for proofreading the manuscript and to Prof. Dianne Fahselt (University of Western Ontario, Canada) for constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Institute of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Science, P. J. Šafárik University, Mánesova 23, 041 67, Košice, Slovak Republic

    Jozef Kováčik, Martin Bačkor & Miroslav Repčák

  2. Laboratory of Growth Regulators, Palacký University, Institute of Experimental Botany ASCR, Šlechtitelů 11, 783 71, Olomouc, Czech Republic

    Jiří Grúz & Miroslav Strnad

Authors
  1. Jozef Kováčik
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  2. Jiří Grúz
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  3. Martin Bačkor
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  4. Miroslav Strnad
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  5. Miroslav Repčák
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Correspondence to Jozef Kováčik.

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Communicated by L. Jouanin.

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Kováčik, J., Grúz, J., Bačkor, M. et al. Salicylic acid-induced changes to growth and phenolic metabolism in Matricaria chamomilla plants. Plant Cell Rep 28, 135–143 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-008-0627-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-008-0627-5

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