Effect of Salt Stress on Growth and Metabolite Profiles of Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.) along Three Growth Stages.

Daissy Monroy-Velandia,Ericsson Coy-Barrera

doi:10.3390/molecules26092756

Daissy Monroy-Velandia, Ericsson Coy-Barrera

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26092756

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Abstract

Colombia is the main producer of cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana L.), a plant known for its various consumption practices and medicinal properties. This plant is generally grown in eroded soils and is considered moderately tolerant to unfavorable conditions, such as nutrient-poor soils or high salt concentrations. Most studies conducted on this plant focus on fruit production and composition because it is the target product, but a small number of studies have been conducted to describe the effect of abiotic stress, e.g., salt stress, on growth and biochemical responses. In order to better understand the mechanism of inherent tolerance of this plant facing salt stress, the present study was conducted to determine the metabolic and growth differences of P. peruviana plants at three different BBCH-based growth substages, varying salt conditions. Hence, plants were independently treated with two NaCl solutions, and growth parameters and LC-ESI-MS-derived semi-quantitative levels of metabolites were then measured and compared between salt treatments per growth substage. A 90 mM NaCl treatment caused the greatest effect on plants, provoking low growth and particular metabolite variations. The treatment discrimination-driving feature classification suggested that glycosylated flavonols increased under 30 mM NaCl at 209 substages, withanolides decreased under 90 mM NaCl at 603 and 703 substages, and up-regulation of a free flavonol at all selected stages can be considered a salt stress response. Findings locate such response into a metabolic context and afford some insights into the plant response associated with antioxidant compound up-regulation.

Highlights

In their natural growth conditions, plants suffer from several biotic and abiotic stresses activating various responses to withstand adverse conditions
One of the more troublesome types of abiotic pressure is salt stress since it affects different growth stages, delaying germination and reducing growth rates such as leaf area, length, and biomass of plants [1]. It interferes with the physiology, the metabolome/proteome, and causes ionic and osmotic stress, which leads to nutrient imbalance, retention of toxic substances, reduction of photosynthetic activity, and formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can produce metabolic dysfunction and even affect genetic material [2]
In the case of the cape gooseberry Colombian ecotype, the present study showed a reduction of the cumulative germination percentage and a germination delay for those seeds that received the salinity treatment (60 mM), compared to the other treatments

Summary

Introduction

In their natural growth conditions, plants suffer from several biotic and abiotic stresses activating various responses to withstand adverse conditions. One of the more troublesome types of abiotic pressure is salt stress since it affects different growth stages, delaying germination and reducing growth rates such as leaf area, length, and biomass of plants [1] It interferes with the physiology, the metabolome/proteome, and causes ionic and osmotic stress, which leads to nutrient imbalance, retention of toxic substances, reduction of photosynthetic activity, and formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can produce metabolic dysfunction and even affect genetic material [2]. Such effects can appear separately or jointly, which highly hinders their study. ROS are overproduced in peroxisomes and chloroplasts, which favors oxidative damage in the leaves and interferes with CO2 fixation, and increases photorespiration [5]

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