Pregnane derivatives such as pregnenolone or progesterone and many other metabolites are important in mammals where many of them act as hormones including sexual hormones. Much less is known about the presence and functions of pregnane derivatives in plants. The main objectives of this work were (1) to determine the presence of pregnane derivatives in winter wheat (2) verify if there are changes of concentration of pregnane derivatives during wheat growth/development with special attention to vernalisation process (3) to answer the question of whether selected pregnane derivatives are stimulators of wheat development and whether the potential stimulation of this development is accompanied by the expression of the Vrn1 (Vernalisation1) gene. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that demonstrates the presence of pregnenolone and 5α-dihydroprogesterone in the leaves and intact crowns of winter wheat. The levels of some of the pregnane derivatives changed during plant growth/development, it was demonstrated that pregnenolone, pregnanolone and 17α-hydroxypregnenolone stimulated wheat development. The changes in the Vrn1 expression are discussed in light of the stimulation of generative development by the pregnane derivatives.

• Keywords
• Vrn1 expression, 5α-dihydroprogesterone, Cold, Pregnenolone, Vernalisation, Winter wheat,
• MeSH
• Plant Leaves metabolism   growth & development   chemistry   MeSH
• Pregnanes * metabolism   MeSH
• Triticum * growth & development   metabolism   genetics   chemistry   MeSH
• Gene Expression Regulation, Plant MeSH
• Plant Growth Regulators metabolism   MeSH
• Plant Proteins metabolism   genetics   MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Pregnanes * MeSH
• Plant Growth Regulators MeSH
• Plant Proteins MeSH

Ecdysteroids (ECs) are steroid hormones originally found in the animal kingdom where they function as insect molting hormones. Interestingly, a relatively high number of these substances can also be formed in plant cells. Moreover, ECs have certain regulatory effects on plant physiology, but their role in plants still requires further study. One of the main aims of the present study was to verify a hypothesis that fenarimol, an inhibitor of the biosynthesis of ECs in the animal kingdom, also affects the content of endogenous ECs in plants using winter wheat Triticum aestivum L. as a model plant. The levels of endogenous ECs in winter wheat, including the estimation of their changes during a course of different temperature treatments, have been determined using a sensitive analytical method based on UHPLC-MS/MS. Under our experimental conditions, four substances of EC character were detected in the tissue of interest in amounts ranging from less than 1 to over 200 pg·g-1 FW: 20-hydroxyecdysone, polypodine B, turkesterone, and isovitexirone. Among them, turkesterone was observed to be the most abundant EC and accumulated mainly in the crowns and leaves of wheat. Importantly, the level of ECs was observed to be dependent on the age of the plants, as well as on growth conditions (especially temperature). Fenarimol, an inhibitor of a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, was shown to significantly decrease the level of naturally occurring ECs in experimental plants, which may indicate its potential use in studies related to the biosynthesis and physiological function of these substances in plants.

• Keywords
• cold acclimation, deacclimation, ecdysteroids, fenarimol, plant development, vernalization, winter wheat,
• MeSH
• Biological Products chemistry   metabolism   MeSH
• Chromatography, Liquid methods   MeSH
• Ecdysteroids biosynthesis   chemistry   MeSH
• Plant Leaves drug effects   metabolism   MeSH
• Molecular Structure MeSH
• Fungicides, Industrial pharmacology   MeSH
• Triticum growth & development   metabolism   MeSH
• Pyrimidines pharmacology   MeSH
• Tandem Mass Spectrometry methods   MeSH
• Temperature MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Biological Products MeSH
• Ecdysteroids MeSH
• fenarimol MeSH Browser
• Fungicides, Industrial MeSH
• Pyrimidines MeSH