The rainbow protocol: A sequential method for quantifying pigments, sugars, free amino acids, phenolics, flavonoids and <scp>MDA</scp> from a small amount of sample

Abstract

The elucidation of plant health status requires quantifying multiple molecular metabolism markers. Until now, the extraction of these biomarkers is performed independently, with different extractions and protocols. This approach is inefficient, since it increases laboratory time, amount of sample, and could introduce biases or difficulties when comparing data. To limit these drawbacks, we introduce a versatile protocol for quantifying seven of the most commonly analysed biomarkers (photosynthetic pigments, free amino acids, soluble sugars, starch, phenolic compounds, flavonoids and malondialdehyde) covering substantial parts of plant metabolism, requiring only a minimum sample amount and common laboratory instrumentation. The procedures of this protocol rely on classic methods that have been updated to allow their sequential use, increasing reproducibility, sensibility and easiness to obtain quantitative results. Our method has been tested and validated over an extended diversity of organisms (Arabidopsis thaliana, Solanum lycopersicum, Olea europaea, Quercus ilex, Pinus pinaster and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), tissues (leaves, roots and seeds) and stresses (cold, drought, heat, ultraviolet B and nutrient deficiency). Its application will allow increasing the number of parameters that can be monitored at once while decreasing sample handling and consequently, increasing the capacity of the laboratory.