Podophyllotoxin Content Analysis of Linum album Kotschy ex Boiss. Subjected to Short-Term Potassium Deficiency Stress

Abstract

Podophyllotoxin (PTOX), one of the most important natural medicinal compounds, has anticancer properties. Its effective medicinal derivatives, such as etoposide and teniposide, have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for cancer treatment. This compound is found as a specialized metabolite in the Linum album Kotschy ex Boiss., belonging to the Linaceae family. PTOX is the major aryltetralin lignan resulting from the shikimic acid/phenylpropanoid pathway, and it accumulates in the shoots and roots of L. album. PTOX plays a necessary role in plant defense systems, protecting against abiotic as well as biotic stresses and helping their adaptation to adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, the content of specialized metabolites increases under stress. In this study, the content of PTOX under stressful conditions (potassium deficiency stress at two time points: 12 and 48 h) was examined using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) in a completely randomized design with three replications. The results of HPLC showed that the content of PTOX first decreased after 12 h, while after 48 h of treatment, compared with the control plants, it showed a significant increase, with a value of 135.8 in the shoots. In the roots, the results were consistent with the results of the aerial parts, and the amount increased significantly after 48 h. In general, the results show that L. album, as a suitable natural source for PTOX, has great potential to generate large-scale products for commercial and pharmaceutical purposes.