Dhurrin increases but does not mitigate oxidative stress in droughted Sorghum bicolor

MAIN CONCLUSION: Droughted sorghum had higher concentrations of ROS in both wildtype and dhurrin-lacking mutants. Dhurrin increased in wildtype genotypes with drought. Dhurrin does not appear to mitigate oxidative stress in sorghum. ABSTRACT: Sorghum bicolor is tolerant of high temperatures and prolonged droughts. During droughts, concentrations of dhurrin, a cyanogenic glucoside, increase posing a risk to livestock of hydrogen cyanide poisoning. Dhurrin can also be recycled without the release of hydrogen cyanide presenting the possibility that it may have functions other than defence. It has been hypothesised that dhurrin may be able to mitigate oxidative stress by scavenging reactive oxygen species (ROS) during biosynthesis and recycling. To test this, we compared the growth and chemical composition of S. bicolor in total cyanide deficient sorghum mutants (tcd1) with wild-type plants that were either well-watered or left unwatered for 2 weeks. Plants from the adult cyanide deficient class of mutant (acdc1) were also included. Foliar dhurrin increased in response to drought in all lines except tcd1 and acdc1, but not in the roots or leaf sheaths. Foliar ROS concentration increased in drought-stressed plants in all genotypes. Phenolic concentrations were also measured but no differences were detected. The total amounts of dhurrin, ROS and phenolics on a whole plant basis were lower in droughted plants due to their smaller biomass, but there were no significant genotypic differences. Up until treatments began at the 3-leaf stage, tcd1 mutants grew more slowly than the other genotypes but after that they had higher relative growth rates, even when droughted. The findings presented here do not support the hypothesis that the increase in dhurrin commonly seen in drought-stressed sorghum plays a role in reducing oxidative stress by scavenging ROS. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00425-022-03844-z.