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Monday, May 25, 2020

IImpact of CO2 on Growth and Medicinal Properties of a Perennial Herb

Qiang, Q., Gao, Y., Yu, B., 
Wang, M., Ni, W., Li, S., 
Zhang, T., Li, W. and Lin, L. 

2020

Elevated CO2 enhances 
growth and differentially 
affects saponin content i
n Paris polyphylla 
var. yunnanensis. 

Industrial Crops 
& Products 147: 112124.



NOTE:
Multi-leaf paris 
( Paris polyphylla ) 
is a shade-tolerant herb 
common to southwestern 
China within evergreen 
broad-leaved forests.

It is commonly used in 
traditional Chinese 
medicine because 
it has been shown 
to successfully 
stop bleeding 
(Sun et al., 2014), 
reduce inflammation
(Zhu et al., 2019) 
and inhibit 
the proliferation 
of cancer cells 
(Lee et al., 2009; 
Zhang et al., 2018). 

There's great interest 
in industrializing 
this species for use 
in producing medicines 
and healthcare products. 

Unfortunately,
P. polyphylla 
requires 
up to 10 years 
from seed 
germination 
to harvest.

Qiang et al. (2020) 
examined 
the response 
of two cultivars 
of this species 
to elevated CO2.



SUMMARY:
Rising CO2 levels 
will benefit 
the growth of 
multi-leaf paris 
and its 
key secondary
metabolites, 
which has 
important 
medical and 
health-related 
implications.

Net photosynthesis 
at the end of the 
30 day experiment, 
increased by 
approximately 110% 
and 178% in the 
WY and CY cultivars, 
respectively, 
which helped lead 
to improvements 
in water use efficiency 
of 87% for WY and 
143% for CY. 

Elevated CO2 stimulated 
plant fresh weight, 
increasing it by 11.4% 
in the CY cultivar 
and by 18.3% in WY.

Production of 
steroidal saponins
under elevated 
CO2 conditions: 
Qiang et al. 
report that although 
their concentrations 
declined slightly, an 
"increased amount 
of saponins 
was produced." 



DETAILS:
The work was conducted 
in a controlled-environment 
greenhouse in Kunming, China. 

The two cultivars included 
one from a warm and 
humid habitat (CY) 
and one from a locale 
that is cold and dry (WY). 

Plants from 
both cultivars 
at the one-leaf 
seedling stage 
were subjected 
to ambient CO2 
     ( 400 ppm)  
or elevated CO2
     ( 800 ppm ) 
for a period of 30 days. 

All other conditions 
were maintained 
under normal growth 
environments 
for the species.



REFERENCES:
Lee, R.K.Y., Ong, R.C.Y., Cheung, J.Y.N., Li, Y.C., Chan, J.Y.W., Lee, M.M.S., Suen, Y.K., Fung, K.P., Ho, H.P., Bao, Y., Li, M., Kwok, T.T. and Kong, S.K. 2009. Polyphyllin D - a potential anti-cancer agent to kill hepatocarcinoma cells with multi-drug resistance. Current Chemical Biology 3: 89-99.

Sun, C.L., Ni, W., Yan, H., Liu, Z.H., Yang, L., Si, Y.A., Hua, Y., Chen, C.X., He, L., Zhao, J.H. and Liu, H.Y. 2014. Steroidal saponins with induced platelet aggregation activity from the aerial parts of Paris verticillata. Steroids 92: 90-95.

Zhang, J.L., Ma, Y.Z., Hu, W.L., Lan, G.Y. 2018. Effects of high temperature stress on physiological indicators of Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis. Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs 36: 100-106.


Zhu, T.T., Wu, W.J., Yang, S.Y., Li, D.L., Sun, D.J. and He, L. 2019. Polyphyllin I inhibits propionibacterium acnes-induced inflammation in vitro. Inflammation 42: 35-44.