Chi T. L. Tran1,, Damien Callahan2, Tony Arioli1,3, David Cahill1
1Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Victoria 3216, Australia
2 Deakin University, Burwood Campus, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Victoria 3125, Australia
3 Seasol International, Bayswater, Victoria 3153 Australia
Seaweed extracts are a prominent class of biostimulants that enhance plant health and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses due to their unique bioactive components. In our previous study, it was demonstrated that a single application of seaweed extract induced priming effects on Arabidopsis thaliana by altering major plant defence, immune signalling and prime-related genes (Islam et al., 2021). However, the mechanism of how these positive responses are accomplished is still unknown. Hence, in this research, two applications of Seasol Commercial, a seaweed extract derived from Durvillaea potatorum and the common brown algae Ascophyllum nodosum were used to evaluate further effects on the growth and defence system of the model plants. 14-day seedlings were grown in a sand system and soil-applied with seaweed extract. Root and leaf samples at 0, 3, and 5 days after the last treatment were harvested and extracted. Full-scan data acquisition was carried out using an untargeted ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) combined with high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) method to identify a wide range of metabolites. Our study demonstrated that the metabolomic profiles of plants at different time points vary significantly from each other. The significant alterations were mainly fatty acids, carbohydrates, and amino acids. Changes in TCA cycle-related compounds such as malate, fumarate, succinate and important jasmonic acid and salicylic acid-mediated signalling pathways reveal the considerable reprogramming caused by priming effects. The results suggested that seaweed extract promotes plant growth and defence systems by altering various physiological processes at metabolic levels.
Islam MT, Arioli T and Cahill DM (2021) ‘Seaweed Extract-Stimulated Priming in Arabidopsis thaliana and Solanum lycopersicum’, Plants (Basel), 10(11), https://doi.org/10.3390/plants10112476