Effects of Salicylic Acid and Methyl Jasmonate Treatments on Flavonoid and Carotenoid Accumulation in the Juice Sacs of Satsuma Mandarin In Vitro

Risa Yamamoto,Hiroshi Fujii,Lancui Zhang,Miki Hirai,Masaya Kato,Kazuki Yamawaki,Gang Ma,Takehiko Shimada,Tomoko Endo,Masaki Yahata

doi:10.3390/app10248916

Risa Yamamoto, Hiroshi Fujii + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app10248916

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Abstract

Salicylic acid and jasmonic acid are two important plant hormones that trigger the plant defense responses and regulate the accumulation of bioactive compounds in plants. In the present study, the effects of salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on flavonoid and carotenoid accumulation were investigated in the juice sacs of Satsuma mandarin in vitro. The results showed that SA treatment was effective to enhance the contents of eriocitrin, narirutin, poncirin, and β-cryptoxanthin in the juice sacs (p < 0.05). In contrast, the MeJA treatment inhibited flavonoid and carotenoid accumulation in the juice sacs (p < 0.05). Gene expression results showed that the changes of flavonoid and carotenoid contents in the SA and MeJA treatments were highly regulated at the transcriptional level. In addition, a transcriptional factor CitWRKY70 was identified in the microarray analysis, which was induced by the SA treatment, while suppressed by the MeJA treatment. In the SA and MeJA treatments, the change in the expression of CitWRKY70 was consistent with that of flavonoid and carotenoid biosynthetic key genes. These results indicated that CitWRKY70 might be involved in the regulation of flavonoid and carotenoid accumulation in response to SA and MeJA treatments in the juice sacs of citrus fruit.

Highlights

Fruit ripening is a complex developmental process involving a number of physiological and biochemical changes that are thought to be under hormonal and environmental control [1,2]
Summarizing, we found that salicylic acid (SA) treatment was effective to enhance the contents of eriocitrin, narirutin, and poncirin and β-cryptoxanthin in the citrus juice sacs of Satsuma mandarin
The effects of SA and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) on flavonoid and carotenoid accumulation were investigated in the juice sacs of Satsuma mandarin in vitro

Summary

Introduction

Fruit ripening is a complex developmental process involving a number of physiological and biochemical changes that are thought to be under hormonal and environmental control [1,2]. Carotenoids, whose accumulation increase during ripening in citrus, are secondary metabolites with antioxidant effects in plants and are an important group of natural pigments. Β-cryptoxanthin is an important xanthophyll accumulated in fruits and vegetables. Sci. 2020, 10, 8916 reported that dietary intake of β-cryptoxanthin reduced the risks of certain diseases, especially cancers, diabetes, and rheumatism, because of its antioxidant activity [3,4,5,6,7,8]

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