Guibin Wang, Fuliang Cao, Guangyu Wang and Yousry A. El- Kassaby
The environmental factors affecting flavonoid biosynthesis and accumulation from Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba L.) plants in production plantation settings is investigated to maximize their production.
Objectives: To develop an understanding of the environmental factors (temperature and available soil moisture and their inter-relationship) affecting flavonoids biosynthesis and accumulation in Ginkgo leaves for selection, development, and production purposes for commercial production.
Methods: A factorial experiment (temperature: 15/5, 25/15 and 35/25°C (day/night) and soil moisture: 55-60, 40-45 and 30-35% of field capacity) using 2-year-old Ginkgo seedlings to estimated flavonoids content and their expression level in leaves sampled 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50days using high performance liquid chromatography and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) of seven flavonoid biosynthesis-related genes, respectively.
Results: Flavonoid accumulation was significantly higher under lower temperature (15/5°C) and available soil moisture (40-45 and 30-35%) while it was severely suppressed under high temperature. qRT-PCR indicated that flavonoid biosynthesis differed greatly among the studied genes with some genes being up-regulated under lower or higher temperature and/or moisture.
Conclusion: Total flavonoid content was greatly affected by temperature and soil moisture content and their biosynthesis varied among the studied genes suggesting the presence of a synergistic effect on the expression of genes within the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway. The results contributed to the understanding of the environmental factors needed for the successful production of flavonoid from Ginkgo leaves harvest plantations.
