Resumen
In this study, the effects of exogenous C6-volatiles on Astragalus membranaceus var. mongholicus growth and secondary metabolism were explored. Five-week old seedlings of A. membranaceus var. mongholicus were exposed to different concentrations of soil-borne hexanal (10, 50, 100 µM) twice/week for 4 weeks. Non-treated plants serve as control. Growth, bioactive compounds and gene expression were measured by conventional and ?omic? approaches. The results demonstrated: (1) all doses of hexanal significantly decreased chlorophyll a/b contents; (2) 10 and 100 µM hexanal significantly decreased the shoot length while 50 µM hexanal kept the value at the same level as it was in the control; (3) 50 µM hexanal effectively enhanced the contents of bioactive compounds in roots and the others had no obvious effect; (4) 50 µM hexanal induced more dysregulated metabolites in leaves than in roots, especially those associated with lipid metabolism; (5) expression of unigenes annotaed as ?plant-pathogen interaction?, ?secondary metabolism? and ?lipid metabolism? were largely induced as well as those classified into multiple growth and defense signaling pathways. Taken together, C6-volatiles can serve as potential elicitors for quality formation of herbal medicines. The online version of this article (doi: 10.5073/JABFQ.2017.090.027) contains supplementary files.