Metabolomics Reveals Ecological Significance of Secondary Metabolites in Scutellaria baicalensis under drought stress

Background Plant have to face the more environmental stress than animal which can dodge unfavourable circumstances by moving about, it is inevitable that the reactive oxygen species(ROS), as a product of stress, are massive generated. Excessive ROS with a powerful oxidizability under stress could do harm to the protein, including enzymes. So it is impossible to eliminated too much ROS only by antioxidant enzymes. Plant have evolved a secondary metabolism as peculiar additional pathway, but the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites would be extremely costly due to the consumption of much material and energy during suitable condition, secondary metabolism are augmented only after the stress befall, meaning the secondary metabolites vary according to the ecological environment. Results Using UHPLC -ESI-Q-TOF-MS/MS analysis, a total of 24 differential compounts in root of Scutellaria baicalensis were identified between the drought and suitable condition. Based on Results of t-test analysis(P