Underlying mechanism in rapid changes in UV screening and antioxidant activity by flavonoids

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Susanne Neugart
• Subject Area: Plant Cultivation, Plant Nutrition, Agricultural Technology
• Term: from 2017 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 359552155

The production of high quality, nutritious food while employing natural processes to maintain plant productivity, is an overarching goal of sustainable agriculture. In the U.S., and other industrialized countries, the nutritional quality of people s diet is a key factor in the prevention of many chronic diseases, including obesity and heart disease. Traditionally viewed as detrimental to crops, recent evidence now shows that natural levels of ultraviolet radiation (UV; 290-400 nm) in sunlight can actually have a number of beneficial effects on the performance and nutritional quality of many crops and vegetables. These benefits appear to be mediated by a newly discovered UV photoreceptor that controls the production of flavonoids-a class of plant secondary metabolites that are known to have various health benefits. Flavonoids serve multiple functions in plants (e.g. UV sunscreens or antioxidants) but species vary greatly in flavonoid profiles and responsiveness to UV. In particular, some, but not all, plants are capable of rapidly adjusting their UV-sunscreen protection (flavonoids) within minutes-to-hours in response to natural variation in solar UV that occurs over a day (diurnal rhythm) or as a result of changing cloud cover. How plants achieve these rapid changes in UV-sunscreen properties and what the functional significance of these changes are for plant productivity are largely unknown. This project will probe the mechanisms of UV-induced rapid adjustments in UV sunscreen protection in several economical important plant species eaten in the U.S. and Africa (orka, faba bean and cowpea) and examine the costs and benefits of these changes in flavonoids for plant growth and photosynthesis. For the first time the chemical structure of complex flavonoid glycosides is considered to impact rapid adjustments of plants to UVB. Findings from this research will improve our basic understanding of the role of UV in regulating flavonoids and plant performance with the ultimate goal of developing crops and cultivation strategies that utilize the natural beneficial effects of UV to produce higher quality food.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: USA
• Host: Professor Dr. Paul Barnes