Identification of Potential Allelochemicals From Donor Plants and Their Synergistic Effects on the Metabolome of Aegilops geniculata.

Monica Scognamiglio,Bernd Schneider

doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.01046

Monica Scognamiglio, Bernd Schneider

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.01046

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Abstract

The need for plants to defend themselves, communicate, and somehow contribute to the social life in their ecosystems has triggered the evolution of an astonishing number of diverse chemicals, some of which involved in plant–plant interactions. In the present study, specific aspects of allelopathy are investigated. A combination of bioassays and metabolomics was used in order to study the chemical interactions occurring between three donor species of Mediterranean area (Arbutus unedo, Medicago minima, Myrtus communis) and a receiving species (Aegilops geniculata). The biochemical changes occurring in the receiving plant upon the treatments with the donor extracts were studied. Oxidative stress and altered water balance were found to be the major changes in the receiving plant. Putative allelochemicals synthesized by the donor plants were also identified and it was shown that their activity was enhanced by co-occurring metabolites. This study provides evidence that metabolite mixtures are to be taken into consideration for allelopathic activity. Furthermore, not only it reports the chemicals responsible for the activity in the specific system, but it also shows that the response of the receiving plant to the treatment with extracts from donor plants is comparable to the response to other stresses.

Highlights

Plants are virtually active parts of ecosystems, in continuous exchange of cues and signals with the environment, and with other organisms, despite their sessileness and apparent passiveness (Mescher and Pearse, 2016)
Treatments with MC resulted in similar effects than treatments with HC, while for LC milder or almost no effect were detected
(Scognamiglio et al, 2014) showed that the donor plants have allelopathic potential. This was confirmed by their effects on growth, performance and metabolism of A. geniculata (Figures 2–4, Figure S1, Table S1)

Summary

Introduction

Plants are virtually active parts of ecosystems, in continuous exchange of cues and signals with the environment, and with other organisms, despite their sessileness and apparent passiveness (Mescher and Pearse, 2016). Among the organisms a plant has to interact with, other plants are of utmost importance. An example above all is the competition for resources, it is known that plant–plant interactions are somehow much more complex, involving diverse chemical signals (Holmgren et al, 1997; Semchenko et al, 2014). A specific type of plant–plant interaction based on chemical signalling is the phenomenon known as allelopathy (Muller, 1966) that has been proposed as one of the forces shaping plant community (Scognamiglio et al, 2013; Da Silva et al, 2017). In the most simplified picture, it implies the existence of a donor plant that produces and releases chemicals able to influence the growth and performance of a receiving plant.

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