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Regulation of folic acid on phenolic acids production in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots

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Abstract

Salvia miltiorrhiza, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, contains two groups of bioactive components: lipid-soluble tanshinones and water-soluble phenolic acids. Many researchers have recently focused on elicitation of secondary metabolites to improve their production. In this paper, folic acid was used as an elicitor to stimulate phenolics production in S. miltiorrhiza hairy root cultures. The results showed that folic acid use was effective for eliciting rosmarinic acid (RA), salvianolic acid B (SAB), caffeic acid (CA), and total phenolics from S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots and that 50 μM is the most effective folic acid concentration for elicitation. Roots treated with 50 μM folic acid showed 97.6, 76.7, and 47 % increases in RA, SAB, and CA contents, respectively, relative to the control. The expression of three key genes involved in SAB biosynthesis (i.e., PAL, TAT, and RAS) were upregulated by folic acid. In conclusion, we report for the first time that folic acid is an effective elicitor of phenolics production in S. miltiorrhiza hairy roots. Our results suggest that folic acid is a potential elicitor that may improve phenolic acid production in medicinal plants.

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Abbreviations

RA:

Rosmarinic acid

CA:

Caffeic acid

SAB:

Salvianolic acid B

MeJA:

Methyl jasmonate

YE:

Yeast extract

ABA:

Abscisic acid

PAL:

Phenylalanine ammonia lyase

RAS:

Rosmarinic acid synthase-like

TAT:

Tyrosine aminotransferase

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Acknowledgments

This material is based upon work funded by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. LZ16H280001), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81373908 and 81403033), 521 Talent Program of Zhejiang Sci-tech University and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project (Nos. 2014M551771 and 2015T80223). The funders have no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Secondary Metabolism and Regulation of Zhejiang Province, College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, 928 Second Avenue, Xiasha Higher Education Zone, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    Dongfeng Yang, Zhicheng Huang, Weibo Jin & Zongsuo Liang

  2. Tasly Holding Group Co. Ltd, Tasly Academy, Tianjin, 300410, China

    Dongfeng Yang, Xijun Yan & Zhixin Guo

  3. Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, CAS & MWR, Yangling, 712100, China

    Bingcong Xing

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  1. Dongfeng Yang
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  2. Zhicheng Huang
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  3. Bingcong Xing
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  4. Weibo Jin
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  5. Xijun Yan
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  6. Zhixin Guo
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Correspondence to Zongsuo Liang.

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Yang, D., Huang, Z., Xing, B. et al. Regulation of folic acid on phenolic acids production in Salvia miltiorrhiza hairy roots. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 127, 175–185 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-016-1040-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-016-1040-3

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