Biochemical and molecular basis of the metabolic network of diterpenes, bioactive ...
| Grant number: | 16/10896-0 |
| Support type: | Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants |
| Duration: | October 01, 2016 - September 30, 2020 |
| Field of knowledge: | Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy |
| Principal Investigator: | Douglas Silva Domingues |
| Grantee: | Douglas Silva Domingues |
| Home Institution: | Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil |
| Assoc. researchers: | Alexandre Rossi Paschoal ; Danilo da Cruz Centeno ; Emerson Alves da Silva ; Flávia Rodrigues Alves Patrício ; Gustavo Habermann ; Halley Caixeta de Oliveira ; José Domingos Cochicho Ramalho ; Luiz Filipe Protasio Pereira ; Milene Ferro ; Mirian Perez Maluf ; Poliana Cardoso Gustavson ; Silvia Ribeiro de Souza |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 17/01455-2 - Biochemical and molecular basis of the metabolic network of diterpenes, bioactive and natural compounds in coffee, BP.PD |
Abstract
Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.) is an allotetraploid in which large scale studies related to signaling molecules are still neglected, despite the economic and social importance of its cultivation in Brazil and worldwide. Recently, it was shown that hexanoic acid, a hexane-derivative fatty acid, can act both as a resistance inducer (primer) molecule and as an antimicrobial substance in several plant systems. This priming probably relies on the modulation of jasmonate, salicylate and mevalonate metabolism, pathways also related to the regulation of terpene biosynthesis, the largest class of specialized metabolites produced in plants. Only plants from Coffea genus produces the antioxidant and anticarcinogenic diterpenes cafestol and kahweol, whose molecular basis of biosynthesis is poorly known. We recently detected these diterpenes, for the first time, in coffee roots. So far, molecular mechanisms modulated by the hexanoic acid application were studied almost exclusively on plant/pathogen interactions, and the effect per se of hexanoic acid on plant metabolism was not specifically evaluated. In this project, we will verify if the exogenous application of hexanoic acid is able to modulate transcriptional profiles, the primary metabolism and terpenoid profiles in Arabica coffee leaves and roots. We will also analyze if this substance can modify antioxidant system responses and nitric oxide production in coffee plants. In addition, we will check if hexanoic acid is also able to inhibit the development of brown eye spot and brown leaf spot in coffee plants. Thus, this project will produce knowledge on several areas, which cover the molecular basis of terpenoid metabolism in plants and the control of diseases without resistance sources in coffee trees. Concomitantly, this project will bring fundamental knowledge to elucidate the relevance of hexanoic acid application on molecular networks related to nitric oxide signaling and stress tolerance in plants (AU)
| Articles published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the research grant |
| The aroma and flavor of coffee depend on different chemical compounds |