Abstract
Salicylic acid (SA) is a well-known immune-related hormone that has been well studied in model plants. However, less attention has been paid to the presence of SA and its derivatives in economic plants, such as tea plants (Camellia sinensis). This study showed that tea plants were rich in SA and responded differently to different pathogens. Feeding experiments in tea tissues further confirmed the transformation of SA into salicylic acid 2-O-β-glucoside (SAG) and methyl salicylate. Nonaqueous fractionation techniques confirmed that SA and SAG were mostly distributed in the cytosol of tea leaves, consistent with distributions in other plant species. Furthermore, the stem epidermis contained more SA than the stem core both in C. sinensis cv. “Jinxuan” (small-leaf species) and “Yinghong No. 9” (large-leaf species). Compared with cv. “Yinghong No. 9”, cv. “Jinxuan” contained more SAG in the stem epidermis, which might explain its lower incidence rate of wilt disease. This information will improve understanding of SA occurrence in tea plants and provide a basis for investigating the relationship between SA and disease resistance in tea plants.
Highlights
Plant hormones are small organic compounds that exist naturally and have critical roles in the plant development process, and in defense and immune responses [1]
The results showed that salicylic acid (SA) accumulated in the epidermis of the two cultivars, while salicylic acid 2-O-β-glucoside (SAG) showed the opposite distribution (Figure 7)
In tea leaves was independent of the cultivar and plucking month, with different responses observed in response to different pathogens
Summary
Plant hormones are small organic compounds that exist naturally and have critical roles in the plant development process, and in defense and immune responses [1]. Compared with other horticultural crops, tea tree diseases are not serious, with few reports of tea tree disease causing significant economic loss [8] This might be due to the evolved defense system in tea plants, which has developed physiological adaptability, resulting in a strong ability to resist infection by pathogens. The transformation of SA in tea plants was analyzed using the stable isotope method, and the distributions of SA and its transformation products were analyzed at the tissue and cellular levels This information will advance our understanding of the occurrence of SA in tea plants and provide a basis for investigating the relationship between SA and disease resistance in tea plants
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