Citrus plants have been well studied as rich source of bioactive compounds which show pharmacological activities such as hypocholesterolemic, hypotensive and antioxidant activities. Phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, terpenoids and alkaloids are major bioactive secondary metabolites in citrus and some of these are considered to be involved in their defense responses. However, reports of inducible compounds against environmental stress in citrus are quite limited. We focused on wound-induced metabolic change of several species and cultivars of citrus using HPLC and GC/MS, and we found that profiles of primary and secondary metabolites were changed after mechanical wounding. For instance, in hassaku (Citrus hassaku Hort. ex Tanaka), a popular citrus cultivar in Japan, two compounds occurred only in wounded leaves, suggesting that these compounds were involved in the defense response against wounding. In order to characterize these wound-induced compounds, we isolated and identified the compounds, and one of them was identified as hesperetin, a major flavanone found in citrus plants, while another was revealed to be a novel lignan which was a dimeric compound of citrusnin-A, a prenylated hydroxycinnamoyl alcohol in natsudaidai (C. natsdaidai). Similarly, metabolic changes in response to wound stress were observed in all Citrusplants tested. A comprehensive approach to analysis of metabolic change in the citrus defense mechanism against mechanical damage will be discussed. 

Comprehensive analysis of wound induced metabolic change in citrus plants

248th National Meeting (2014)

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