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Copper-Induced Modulation of Biomass Growth, Physiological Parameters, Bioactive Centellosides, and Expression of Biosynthetic Pathway Genes in an Important Medicinal Herb, Centella asiatica

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Abstract

Hydroponically established Centella asiatica plants were studied under different concentrations of copper (0, 0.32,1.6, and 3.2 µM) for their morphological, physiological, and biochemical characteristics. The plants grown in the medium without any exogenous supply of copper showed improved biomass accumulation with maximum fresh weight (FW = 24.7 g plant−1) and dry weight (DW = 2.35 g plant−1). The total chlorophyll content, leaf number, and the leaf area were higher (0.27 mg g−1 DW, 20 and 100.54 cm2) in the plants grown under copper-deficient conditions. The toxic effects of increased levels of copper were evident by significant inhibition in growth and other morphological parameters. Copper treatment showed an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) content and SOD activity. Bioactive phytochemical profiling using HPLC analysis revealed that higher levels of copper (1.6 and 3.2 µM) inhibit the accumulation of total centelloside content. The differential accumulation of centelloside content was further validated by the consistent pattern of expression of key pathway genes related to centelloside production in copper-treated C. asiatica plants. The study unveiled some of the important facts associated with the mechanism of copper tolerance in this important medicinal herb C. asiatica. The findings of the present study can be further used to provide better production of high value, in demand centellosides.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Director CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow for providing facilities to execute the work. A part of this work was carried out under a sponsored project Grant No. SR/SO/Ps-28/07 of Department of Science & Technology (DST), New Delhi, India to AM. The first author (AP) thanks Council of Scientific & IndustrialResearch, New Delhi for the award of Senior Research Fellowship during this investigation.

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  1. Plant Biotechnology Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, PO CIMAP, Kukrail Picnic Spot Road, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 226015, India

    Archana Prasad, Mamta Kumari, A. K. Mathur & Archana Mathur

  2. Botany and Pharmacognosy Division, Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, PO CIMAP, Lucknow, 226015, India

    N. K. Srivastava

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  1. Archana Prasad
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Correspondence to Archana Mathur.

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Prasad, A., Kumari, M., Srivastava, N.K. et al. Copper-Induced Modulation of Biomass Growth, Physiological Parameters, Bioactive Centellosides, and Expression of Biosynthetic Pathway Genes in an Important Medicinal Herb, Centella asiatica . J Plant Growth Regul 37, 471–480 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-017-9745-z

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