Metabolic changes in hairy root cultures of Centella asiatica treated with methyl-jasmonate and coronatine: a ¹H-NMR-based metabolomics approach

Hairy root cultures of Centella asiatica–based coupled with exogenous application of methyl-jasmonate and coronatine are suitable bioproduction platforms to overproduce this plant-occurring high-valuable metabolite. These two molecules orchestrate cellular responses in metabolism that have not been yet deeply explored in hairy roots of this plant. The exploration of metabolic changes is crucial since the biotechnological system productivity depends on the knowledge of the biosynthetic machinery of the culture. To understand how methyl-jasmonate and coronatine cause changes in the metabolism of hairy roots of C. asiatica, the metabolic responses to these molecules were monitored through a nuclear magnetic resonance time-series metabolomics approach. The acquired data was analyzed to perform untargeted and targeted metabolomics approaches. Multivariate data analysis statistical models revealed that coronatine caused an early and superior reprogramming effect on the metabolome compared to methyl-jasmonate. We identified 40 compounds from primary and specialized metabolism. The relative production kinetics of these metabolites in the two treatments and their possible links in the metabolic pathways of the plant were discussed. We were able to observe that in coronatine-treated cultures, phenolic specialized pathways were activated 8 d after treatment exposure while the pool of carbohydrates and nitrogen-carrier amino acids were consumed at early stages. This evidenced the clear and high reprogramming effect in the metabolism of C. asiatica hairy roots in response to coronatine. These findings provide important insights on the metabolic alterations caused by methyl-jasmonate and coronatine and on the possibility to redirect the metabolism of hairy root cultures of C. asiatica.