Steviol glycosides targeted analysis in leaves of Stevia rebaudiana (Bertoni) from plants cultivated under chilling stress conditions

• Published in: Food chemistry 2016-01, Vol.190, p.572-580
• Main Authors: Soufi, Sihem, D’Urso, Gilda, Pizza, Cosimo, Rezgui, Salah, Bettaieb, Taoufik, Montoro, Paola
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chlorophyll fluorescence; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Cold Temperature; Diterpenes, Kaurane - chemistry; LC–ESI-FT (Orbitrap) MS; LC–ESI–QqQ-MS/MS; Plant Extracts - chemistry; Principal Component Analysis; Steviol glycosides; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods
• ISSN: 0308-8146; 1873-7072
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2015.05.116

•Stevia rebaudiana plants were cultivated in chilling stress conditions.•Untargeted LC–ESI-FT (Orbitrap) MS analysis was undertaken on the samples.•SA, H2O2, BAP and CaCl2 were used as signalling components for chilling stress.•Quantitative LC–MS/MS was applied to quantify sweet glycosides in Stevia leaves.•All the results were analysed by PCA, identifying treatment-based differences. Stevia rebaudiana is an important agricultural crop for the production of a high-potency natural sweetener, sensitive to low temperature during the developmental stage. Stimulation of chilling stress with a pre-treatment with endogenous signalling components and in particular with salicylic acid (SA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and calcium chloride (CaCl2) could induce tolerance to chilling and could constitute a suitable way to maintain quality and quantity of steviol glycosides under controlled artificial environment. In the present work the effects of different putative signalling molecules on the morpho-physiological parameters were evaluated, and a specific method for the quali-quantitative analysis of steviol glycosides in S. rebaudiana plants cultivated under controlled conditions was developed, by using LC–ESI-FT (Orbitrap) MS, LC–ESI–QqQ-MS/MS and multivariate data analysis. This approach underlined that the pre-treatment has influence on the production of secondary metabolites. In particular Stevia plants characterised by higher contents of rebaudioside A and stevioside, were identified.