Short-term severe drought influences root volatile biosynthesis in eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L)

Umashankar Chandrasekaran; Siyeon Byeon; Kunhyo Kim; Seo Hyun Kim; Chan Oh Park; Ah Reum Han; Young-Sang Lee; Hyun Seok Kim

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.1030140

Short-term severe drought influences root volatile biosynthesis in eastern white pine (Pinus strobus L)

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Oct 26:13:1030140. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1030140. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Umashankar Chandrasekaran^{1

2}, Siyeon Byeon¹, Kunhyo Kim¹, Seo Hyun Kim¹, Chan Oh Park¹, Ah Reum Han³, Young-Sang Lee³, Hyun Seok Kim^{1

2

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Bioresources, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
² Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
³ Division of Basic Research, National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon-gun, South Korea.
⁴ Interdisciplinary Program in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.
⁵ National Center for Agro Meteorology, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

Climate change-related drought stress is expected to shift carbon partitioning toward volatile organic compound (VOC) biosynthesis. The effect of drought stress on VOC synthesis remains unknown in several tree species. Therefore, we exposed eastern white pine (Pinus strobus) plants to severe drought for 32 days and performed physiological analysis (chlorophyll content, leaf water content, and root/shoot index), biochemical analysis (non-structural carbohydrates, proline, lipid peroxidation, and antioxidant assay), and total root VOC analysis. Drought stress decreased the relative water and soil moisture contents. Root proline accumulation and antioxidant activity increased significantly, whereas leaf chlorophyll synthesis and fresh weight decreased significantly in drought-treated plants. A non-significant increase in sugar accumulation (leaves and roots), proline accumulation (leaves), antioxidant activity (leaves), and lipid peroxidation (leaves and roots) was observed in drought-treated plants. Drought stress caused a non-significant decline in root/shoot ratio and starch accumulation (leaves and roots) and caused a significant increase in root abscisic acid content. Drought-treated plants showed an increase in overall monoterpene synthesis (16%) and decline in total sesquiterpene synthesis (3%). Our findings provide an overall assessment of the different responses of VOC synthesis to severe water deficit that may help unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying drought tolerance in P. strobus.

Keywords: drought stress; limonene; limonene oxide; root; starch; terpenoids α-pinene.