1H nuclear magnetic resonance fingerprinting of the responses of Lemna minor L. to xenobiotics

Duckweeds (Lemna spp.) are valuable bioassay organisms commonly used in ecotoxicological studies. Since the response of Lemna spp. to xenobiotics has been associated with metabolic processes, a method using ¹H NMR fingerprinting [1] was evaluated for studying metabolic changes caused in Lemna minor by various phytotoxic substances. ¹H NMR spectra of crude extracts from untreated and treated colonies with the herbicides glyphosate, mesotrione, norflurazon, paraquat and the phytotoxin pyrenophorol were obtained and subjected to metabonomic analysis for detecting differences between group treatments. Partial Least Squares-Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) was carried out in order to discriminate group treatments according to the observed changes in the metabonome of the aquatic plant. Although the compounds at the concentrations applied did not cause macroscopically observable symptoms of phytotoxicity, characteristic metabolic changes were detectable by analyzing ¹H NMR spectra of plant extracts. Analyses results revealed that metabonomics using ¹H NMR fingerprinting could be employed for the investigation of toxicity effects of bioactive compounds on colonies of L. minor.

References: 1. Aliferis, K.A., Chrysayi-Tokousbalides, M. (2006)J. Agric. Food Chem. 54: 1687–1692.