Gas chromatographic–mass spectrometric investigation of metabolites from the needles and roots of pine seedlings at early stages of pathogenic fungi Armillaria ostoyae attack

Abstract

An investigation was carried out of the com- position of metabolites in pine seedlings tissues at the initial stages of the infectious process caused by pathogenic fungi Armillaria ostoyae, which causes a root rot of trees and degradation of forest resources. With the help of suc- cessive extraction with organic solvents of different polarity, more than 190 metabolites were extracted from the needles and roots of the seedlings and then identified by GC-MS method. The composition of the extracts from control plants and those inoculated with Armillaria ostoyae were compared. It was established that part of secondary metabolites (glucosamines and free amino acids, carbohy- drates raffinose and trehalose) were present only in the tissues of inoculated plants. Possible roles of some of these compounds appearing in the roots of seedlings infected with the fungus are also discussed in the paper.