Accumulation of Anthocyanins: An Adaptation Strategy of Mikania micrantha to Low Temperature in Winter

Abstract

The accumulation of anthocyanins in leaves and stems of Mikania micrantha improves its adaptability to low-temperature environments during winter in areas where this species is invasive. The accumulation of anthocyanins in M. micrantha causes the plants to exhibit red coloration when encountering low-temperature environments during winter. Many studies have reported that the accumulation of anthocyanins near the plant surface filters light and improves photoprotection. However, the results of this study showed that the main role of anthocyanins accumulation in M. micrantha during winter was to increase both antioxidant capability and tolerance to low temperature. The results showed that the anthocyanin contents were significantly higher in red leaves and stems than in green leaves and stems, with more than 60-fold greater content in red leaves than in green leaves. In addition, the total antioxidant capability was significantly greater in red leaves and stems than in green leaves and stems. After 4°C treatment for 12 h, a large amount of reactive oxygen species accumulated in green leaves and stems, and the maximum photochemical efficiency decreased significantly. Compared with that of the green leaves, the net photosynthetic rate of red leaves was significantly higher. The biomass statistics revealed that the dry matter accumulation of M. micrantha plants with relatively large amounts of anthocyanins was significantly greater than that of plants with relatively low anthocyanin levels during the same period. Our results suggest that the accumulation of anthocyanins during winter is an adaptation strategy of M. micrantha to low winter temperatures.

Comparison of leaves and stems of Paederia scandens (Lour.) Merr. in tolerance to low temperature

“…5); the former of which could decrease light absorption and better remove ROS generated in plants (Zhu et al 2018). These results were consistent with the findings by which the cold resistance of Begonia semperflorens obviously improved when the anthocyanin content increased (Zhang et al 2019). In addition, the contents of soluble sugars in leaves and stems increased significantly under low temperature.…”

“…Plants can generally improve their resistance to adversity by inducing metabolic activities in their cells to adapt to low temperature and increase cold resistance at certain temperatures (Liu et al 2013). Studies have shown that low temperature can induce anthocyanin accumulation (Chang et al 1989, Carmona et al 2017, Zhang et al 2019. The results showed that the stems could accumulate more anthocyanins than the leaves (Fig.…”

Comparative physiological and transcriptomic analyses of photosynthesis in Sphagneticola calendulacea (L.) Pruski and Sphagneticola trilobata (L.) Pruski

“…2 F,G), which indicated that the high photosynthetic capacity was related to its strong electron transfer ability 26 . It has been well acknowledged that Chl and Rubisco have often been considered indices of the light-harvesting and Calvin cycle capacities of leaves, respectively, which play an important role in photosynthesis capacity 30 – 32 . The leaves of S. trilobata had higher Chl and Rubisco contents than those of S. calendulacea , which was consistent with the trend observed for P n (Fig.…”

“…3 H). This could effectively prevent excess light energy from damaging the light system 30 . In contrast, the Chl a/b and Car/Chl ratio in S. trilobata were lower than those in the native species (Fig.…”

The Changing Distribution of Anthocyanin in Mikania micrantha Leaves as an Adaption to Low-Temperature Environments

“…It is a species that prefers higher temperatures and high-light environments. In order to adapt to the low-temperature (below 15 °C) environment in the winter in South China (a region where M. micrantha had spread into), anthocyanins were accumulated in M. micrantha leaves [20]. However, anthocyanin can reduce the absorbance of light by plant leaves [12], and through this mechanism, the low-light environment can affect the growth of M. micrantha [21].…”