Cultivar-dependent and drought-induced modulation of secondary metabolites, adaptative defense in Fagopyrum esculentum L

Abstract

The present study investigates the biochemical responses of buckwheat to drought stress, particularly focusing on phenolic acids and flavonoids, abundant in this crop. We hypothesize that distinct genotypic responses to drought stress will lead to variations in phenolic acid accumulation. Two common buckwheat cultivars, Panda (East European origin) and PI 482597 (originating from Zimbabwe), were subjected to drought treatment, with biochemical traits, relative water content, and photosynthetic pigments regularly assessed. While chlorophyll content remained unaffected by dehydration, total carotenoid content decreased. The unique increase in the chlorophyll to carotenoid ratio suggests a specific role of carotenoids in buckwheat's metabolic stress response. While most phenolic acids and flavonoids exhibited increasing trends during progressive dehydration, their dynamics differed. Notably, rutin content increased early in drought stress, while chlorogenic acid and kaempferol showed enhanced levels only under severe dehydration. Genotypic differences were observed in chlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic acid, cryptochlorogenic acid, 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, and quercetin. Conversely, trans-p-coumaric acid, trans-ferulic acid, vanillic acid, rutin, and kaempferol showed similar trends in both cultivars. By aligning observed drought-induced changes in phenolic compound contents with biosynthesis pathways, trade-offs between individual compounds were identified, contributing to the mechanistic understanding of varied stress responses.

Enhanced Antioxidant Activity and Secondary Metabolite Production in Tartary Buckwheat under Polyethylene Glycol (PEG)-Induced Drought Stress during Germination

“…The distinct clustering observed among all traits, particularly the identification of the XiNong 9943 genotype as exhibiting the highest drought tolerance. This result is consistent with prior research indicating the importance of RWC regulation, osmotic adjustment, and antioxidant defense mechanisms in conferring stress resilience [17,[65][66][67]. Overall, the integration of these analytical approaches enhances our understanding of genotypic responses to PEG-induced drought stress, elucidating key physiological and biochemical mechanisms underlying drought tolerance in Tartary buckwheat genotypes.…”

Metabolomics and Physiological Methods Revealed the Effects of Drought Stress on the Quality of Broomcorn Millet during the Flowering Stage

“…In the study of Sperdouli et al [21] moderate drought stress increased anthocyanin in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves by 2.9 times. Oksana et al [80] observed that in buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum L) the effect of drought stress on quercetin varied with different varieties. In this study, drought stress significantly increased the contents of six anthocyanins in drought-resistant variety Hequ red millet, increased the contents of isorhamnetin and kaempferol in drought-sensitive variety Yanshu No.…”

Colonization of root endophytic fungus Serendipita indica improves drought tolerance of Pinus taeda seedlings by regulating metabolome and proteome

“…The significantly negative correlation between 4-coumaric acid and the two proteins suggests reduction of the metabolite in the needles of I_D seedlings. However, some other experiments showed that 4-coumaric acid accumulated in plants under drought stress (Arabsalehi et al, 2023;Oksana et al, 2023). Its reduced level may be related to difference in plant species because Arabsalehi et al (2023) found decrease in level of quercetin, which often accumulated high levels in plants and played important physiological roles under drought stress (Gray et al, 2003;Singh et al, 2021).…”