Abstract
Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Danshen) is an important traditional Chinese medicine herb. This study aimed to investigate the drought-responsive metabolic profiling in S. miltiorrhiza using gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOFMS) analysis. Fifty day-old S. miltiorrhiza seedlings were treated with two (moderate drought, MD) and four weeks (high drought, HD) of withholding water. The S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root samples were prepared for the GC-TOFMS analysis. Differential metabolites with substantial changes in content in S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root were identified using multivariate and univariate statistics. A total of 178 and 157 annotated metabolites were detected in S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that significantly discriminant metabolites in S. miltiorrhiza leaf by drought were associated with “galactose metabolism” and “citrate cycle”. In addition, the significantly discriminant metabolites in S. miltiorrhiza root were associated with “starch and sucrose metabolism”. Univariate statistics showed that the content of succinic acid, d-glucose, and oxoglutaric acid in S. miltiorrhiza leaf was increased by drought (fold change, FC > 1.5). Allose, d-xylose, melibiose, mannose, sorbitol, quinic acid, sinigrin, and taurine in S. miltiorrhiza root were decreased by drought (FC < 0.67). There were different metabolic profiles between S. miltiorrhiza leaf and root. However, the influence of drought stress on the pharmacological value and accumulation of bioactive constituents in S. miltiorrhiza should be further investigated.
Highlights
Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge is a plant of the genus Salvia of the Labiatae family
The results of the principal component analysis (PCA) analysis showed that there was a clear separation of S. miltiorrhiza leaf samples across groups (Figure S1A) and a high heterogeneity of S. miltiorrhiza root samples within groups (Figure S1B)
Based on the partial least squares discrimination analysis (PLS-DA) model analysis and the criteria of variable importance in projection (VIP) ≥ 1 and p value < 0.05, we identified that MD and HD treatment induced 63 and 71 significantly discriminant metabolites in S. miltiorrhiza leaf compared with control, respectively (Supplementary Table S3)
Summary
Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (called Danshen in Chinese) is a plant of the genus Salvia of the Labiatae family. Its dried root and rhizome are important traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) materials. The bioactive constituents in the root of S. miltiorrhiza, including tanshinones, salvianolic acid B, and polysaccharides, exhibit potent bioactive activity such as free radical scavenging, antioxidant capacity, the prevention and treatment of vascular diseases, antianxiety, and anti-inflammatory effects [1,2,3,4]. S. miltiorrhiza is widely used as a herbal medicine for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, including coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, and ischemia [4,5]. The market demand for S. miltiorrhiza remains high and its planting area is expanding with the increasing demand [6]. Areas affected by water shortage account for ~52% of the land in China and the annual grain production
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