Open Access

REVIEW

Chlorogenic Acid Metabolism: The Evolution and Roles in Plant Response to Abiotic Stress

Deka Reine Judesse Soviguidi^1,2, Rui Pan¹, Yi Liu^1,2, Liping Rao^1,2, Wenying Zhang^1,*, Xinsun Yang^2,*

1 Engineering Research Centre of Ecology and Agricultural Use of Wetland, Ministry of Education, Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Grain Industry, Yangtze University, Jingzhou, 434025, China
2 Hubei Sweetpotato Engineering and Technology Research Centre, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064, China

* Corresponding Authors: Wenying Zhang. Email: ; Xinsun Yang. Email:

Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2022, 91(2), 239-255. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.018284

Received 13 July 2021; Accepted 27 August 2021; Issue published 26 September 2021

Abstract

During the evolution, plants acquired the ability to synthesize different phenylpropanoid compounds like chlorogenic acid (CGA), which plays vital roles in resistance mechanisms to abiotic stresses. These environmental factors, including heavy metal, cold, heat, ultraviolet (UV) light, drought, and salinity affect the plant physiological processes, resulting in massive losses of agriculture production. As plants evolve from green algae to bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms and angiosperms, phenylpropanoids are produced and accumulated in different tissues, giving the plant the capacity to counteract the harmful effects of the adverse environments. Studies have been performed on the metabolic evolution of rosmarinic acid, flavonoids and lignin, showing that the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids begins in green algae until the emersion of genes found in angiosperms; however, the evolution of the CGA pathway has not yet been reviewed. We hypothesize that CGA could also be synthesized from algae to angiosperms. In the present review, the evolutionary analysis of CGA pathway and the function of this compound in plant tolerance to abiotic stresses are summarized. Bioinformatics analyzes were carried out on CGA-related genes across 37 plant species and revealed that the metabolic pathway starts in algae and gradually increases until it becomes complete in angiosperms. The key genes exhibited different expression patterns in stress and plant tissues. Interestingly, some genes accumulated rapidly during evolution and were more sensitive to environmental stresses, while others appeared only later in angiosperms. Further studies are needed to better understand the evolution of the CGA metabolic pathway in plants under environmentally stressed conditions.

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