Acidity stress for the systemic elicitation of glyceollin phytoalexins in soybean plants

ABSTRACT

Glyceollins are the major pathogen- and stress-inducible natural products (phytoalexins) of soybean that possess broad-spectrum anticancer and neuroprotective properties. Yet like other phytoalexins, glyceollins are difficult to obtain because they are typically biosynthesized only transiently and in low amounts in plant tissues. We recently identified acidity stress (pH 3.0 growth medium) as an elicitor that exerted prolonged (week-long) inductive effects on glyceollin biosynthesis and identified the NAC family TF gene GmNAC42-1 that activates glyceollin biosynthesis in response to acidity stress or WGE from the soybean pathogen Phytophthora sojae. GmNAC42-1 was annotated as an SAR gene and SAR genes were statistically overrepresented in the transcriptomic response to acidity stress suggesting that acidity stress triggers the systemic elicitation of glyceollin biosynthesis. Here, we demonstrate that acidity stress acts as a systemic elicitor when provided to soybean roots. Acidity stress preferentially elicited specific glyceollins in different soybean organs with exceptionally high yields of glyceollin I in root tissues.

KEYWORDS:

• Bioproduction
• natural products
• phytoalexin
• isoflavonoid

Abbreviations

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Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by WVU start-up funds to NK and is based upon work that is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch project 1010200; National Institute of Food and Agriculture [1010200]; West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station [WVA00687]; West Virginia University [start-up].