Cell-Specific Production and Antimicrobial Activity of Naphthoquinones in Roots of Lithospermum erythrorhizon1
- 1 February 1999
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Plant Physiology
- Vol. 119 (2) , 417-428
- https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.119.2.417
Abstract
Pigmented naphthoquinone derivatives of shikonin are produced at specific times and in specific cells of Lithospermum erythrorhizon roots. Normal pigment development is limited to root hairs and root border cells in hairy roots grown on “noninducing” medium, whereas induction of additional pigment production by abiotic (CuSO4) or biotic (fungal elicitor) factors increases the amount of total pigment, changes the ratios of derivatives produced, and initiates production of pigment de novo in epidermal cells. When the biological activity of these compounds was tested against soil-borne bacteria and fungi, a wide range of sensitivity was recorded. Acetyl-shikonin and β-hydroxyisovaleryl-shikonin, the two most abundant derivatives in both Agrobacterium rhizogenes-transformed “hairy-root” cultures and greenhouse-grown plant roots, were the most biologically active of the seven compounds tested. Hyphae of the pathogenic fungiRhizoctonia solani, Pythium aphanidermatum, and Nectria hematococca induced localized pigment production upon contact with the roots. Challenge byR. solani crude elicitor increased shikonin derivative production 30-fold. We have studied the regulation of this suite of related, differentially produced, differentially active compounds to understand their role(s) in plant defense at the cellular level in the rhizosphere.Keywords
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- Plant-Microbe Interactions: Life and Death at the Interface.Plant Cell, 1996
- Secondary metabolites in plant defence mechanismsNew Phytologist, 1994
- Structure of endogenous oligogalacturonides inducing shikonin biosynthesis in Lithospermum cell culturesPhytochemistry, 1992
- Increased shikonin production inLithospermum erythrorhizon suspension cultures within situ extraction and fungal cell treatment (elicitor)Biotechnology Letters, 1990
- Phylloquinone in photosystem I: are quinones the secondary electron acceptors in all types of photosynthetic reaction centers?Trends in Biochemical Sciences, 1988
- Insect Ecdysis InhibitorsPublished by American Chemical Society (ACS) ,1986
- Intracellular Localization and Secretion of Naphthoquinone Pigments in Cell Cultures ofLithospermum erythrorhizonPlanta Medica, 1984
- Wound healing properties of naphthaquinone pigments fromAlkanna tinctoriaCellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 1978
- The isolation of two esters of the naphthaquinone alcohol, shikonin, from the shrub jatropha glanduliferaPhytochemistry, 1969
- A Revised Medium for Rapid Growth and Bio Assays with Tobacco Tissue CulturesPhysiologia Plantarum, 1962