Effect of Methyl Jasmonate and Salicylic Acid on the Enrichment of Carbazole Alkaloids in Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng

Elicitors have a substantial impact on the accumulation of phytochemical components in wild plants. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MJ) on the enrichment of carbazole alkaloids (CAs) in the leaves of Murraya koenigii under controlled environment. Effect of elicitors at 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mM and their time of exposition 6 h, 12 h, 24 h, 2 days and 5 days were evaluated. Methanolic extracts of the treated samples were subjected to UPLC-ESI-QTRAP LC-MS/MS analysis for the separation and subsequent quantification of seven identified CAs, viz . murrayamine A, koenigine, koenimbidine, koenimbine, mahanine, 8,8′-biskoenigine and mahanimbine. Accumulation of all the CAs was found to be enhanced with both the elicitors, but it was dependent on the type of elicitor, its concentration, and time of exposition. The data were analyzed through multivariate statistical models, like PCA, HCA and PLS-DA. The analysis revealed that 1.5 mM dose of MJ and SA had a significant influence on CAs accumulation at 24 and 12 h, respectively. Five marker CAs from both MJ and SA-treated samples were identified using VIP scoring. These findings suggest that MJ and SA with their specific concentration and exposition time could be used for the accumulation of particular CA to a substantial limit in this plant.