Articolo in rivista, 2009, ENG

Relationship of secondary metabolism to growth in oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) shoot cultures under nutritional stress

Lattanzio V., Cardinali A., Ruta C., Morone Fortunato I., Lattanzio V.M.T., Linsalata V., Cicco N.

Lattanzio V. - Dipartimento di Scienze Agro-Ambientali Chimica e Difesa Vegetale, Facoltà di Agraria, Università degli Studi di Foggia, Cardinali A., Lattanzio V.M.T., Linsalata V. - Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari - CNR, Via Amendola 122/O, 70126 Bari, Italy Ruta C., Morone Fortnato I. - Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Vegetali, Facoltà di Agraria, Università degli Studi di Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126 Bari, Italy Cicco N. - Istituto di Metodologie per l’Analisi Ambientale - CNR, Contrada S. Loja - C.P. 27, 85050 Tito Scalo-Potenza, Italy

Micropropagation of Origanum vulgare L. by shoot buds, as a potential model system for studying carbon skeleton diversion from growth to secondary metabolism as adaptive response to nutrient deficiency, has been performed. In addition, the antioxidant phenolic compounds, produced by shoots under nutritional stress or in response to exogenously added proline, have been studied. Caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, and lithospermic acid B have been isolated in oregano shoot cultures by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, and their structures have been elucidated by tandem mass spectrometry. Both nutritional stress, which in turn causes a moderate increase of constitutive free proline, and exogenous proline affect growth and antioxidant phenolic content of oregano shoots, compared to control. The role of proline, and the associated redox cycle, as a form of metabolic signaling based on a transfer of redox potential amongst interacting cell pathways, which in turn elicit phenolic metabolism via stimulated carbon flux through oxidative pentose phosphate pathway, is discussed. Furthermore, the potential use of oregano tissue and callus cultures as a new strategy to enable the production of useful secondary metabolites on a commercial scale is also discussed.

Environmental and experimental botany 65 , pp. 54–62

Keywords

Proline, Trade-off between growth and secondary metabolism, Rosmarinic acid, Lithospermic acid, Lithospermic acid B

CNR authors

Cardinali Angela, Cicco Nunzia, Lattanzio Veronica Maria Teresa, Linsalata Vito

CNR institutes

IMAA – Istituto di metodologie per l'analisi ambientale, ISPA – Istituto di scienze delle produzioni alimentari