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. 2021 Mar 11;22(6):2855.
doi: 10.3390/ijms22062855.

Naturally Occurring Ecdysteroids in Triticum aestivum L. and Evaluation of Fenarimol as a Potential Inhibitor of Their Biosynthesis in Plants

Affiliations

Naturally Occurring Ecdysteroids in Triticum aestivum L. and Evaluation of Fenarimol as a Potential Inhibitor of Their Biosynthesis in Plants

Anna Janeczko et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Ecdysteroids (ECs) are steroid hormones originally found in the animal kingdom where they function as insect molting hormones. Interestingly, a relatively high number of these substances can also be formed in plant cells. Moreover, ECs have certain regulatory effects on plant physiology, but their role in plants still requires further study. One of the main aims of the present study was to verify a hypothesis that fenarimol, an inhibitor of the biosynthesis of ECs in the animal kingdom, also affects the content of endogenous ECs in plants using winter wheat Triticum aestivum L. as a model plant. The levels of endogenous ECs in winter wheat, including the estimation of their changes during a course of different temperature treatments, have been determined using a sensitive analytical method based on UHPLC-MS/MS. Under our experimental conditions, four substances of EC character were detected in the tissue of interest in amounts ranging from less than 1 to over 200 pg·g-1 FW: 20-hydroxyecdysone, polypodine B, turkesterone, and isovitexirone. Among them, turkesterone was observed to be the most abundant EC and accumulated mainly in the crowns and leaves of wheat. Importantly, the level of ECs was observed to be dependent on the age of the plants, as well as on growth conditions (especially temperature). Fenarimol, an inhibitor of a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, was shown to significantly decrease the level of naturally occurring ECs in experimental plants, which may indicate its potential use in studies related to the biosynthesis and physiological function of these substances in plants.

Keywords: cold acclimation; deacclimation; ecdysteroids; fenarimol; plant development; vernalization; winter wheat.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The chemical structure of the selected representatives of ecdysteroids and the structure of fenarimol, the inhibitor of their biosynthesis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Changes in the content of ecdysteroids in the leaves and crowns of winter wheat. (I) Plants growing 7 days at 20 °C; (II) plants after 7 days at 20 °C and the next 10 days at 5 °C; (III) plants after 7 days at 20 °C and the next 20 days at 5 °C; (IV) plants after 7 days at 20 °C and the next 40 days at 5 °C; (V) plants after 7 days at 20 °C, 40 days at 5 °C and, finally, 10 days at 20 °C. Values marked with the same letters are not significantly different according to Student’s t-test (A, C, E, G) or Duncan’s test (B, D, F, H); p ≤ 0.05; LOD—below detection limit.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The content of ecdysteroids in the aerial part of 7-d-old seedlings of winter wheat. Plants were grown in Petri dishes in water solutions containing fenarimol at concentrations of 0.5 and 5 mg·dm−3 (fenarimol 0.5 and fenarimol 5, respectively). Control 1 is the control for fenarimol 0.5, while Control 2 is the control for fenarimol 5 (for details, see Section 4.2.2). Values marked with the same letters are not significantly different according to Duncan’s test (p ≤ 0.05).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The percentage of winter wheat plants in the generative (not heading and heading) stage of development (A) and the time-to-heading stage (days) (B) characterizing the control and 20-hydroxyecdysone or fenarimol-treated plants. Statistical analysis was done for (A) using test χ2, and for (B) using Duncan’s test (p ≤ 0.05), but no statistically significant changes between treatments were noted.

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