The medicinal sage plant (Salvia spp.), belonging to Lamiaceae family, is one of the most important medicinal and aromatic plants. The members of this genus are globally known due to its antimicrobial, antioxidant, astringent, spasmolytic, antihidrotic and specific sensorial properties. In this study, we investigated the potential impact of water deficit on transcript abundance, and essential oil composition of five major metabolites, i.e. 1–8 cineole, α–β-thujone, camphor, and borneol in three genotypes of Salvia spp. Results showed that relative expression of three genes and their corresponding metabolites increased together at three stages under drought condition, but the CS gene transcript decreased independently from 1,8-cineole in garden sage. Furthermore, borneol changed differently compared to the BS gene expression in control and drought treatment plants of S. reuterana (Yasuj). The competitive synthesis of ß-thujone, and α-thujone by SS gene were demonstrated in S. officinalis and Yasuj ecotype of S. reuterana; whereas, no change was observed for Urmia ecotype of S. reuterana. There was no precursor shortage to synthesis of borneol and camphor in garden sage; however increasing the BS led to high production of borneol and low camphor in S. reuterana under drought stress. As a mechanism, secondary metabolites enable the plants to cope with unfavorable conditions, but genetic differences might affect the quantity and quality of these compounds.

药用鼠尾草（Salvia spp.），属于唇形科，是最重要的药用和芳香植物之一。该属的成员因其抗菌、抗氧化、收敛、解痉、止汗和特定的感官特性而闻名于世。在这项研究中，我们调查了水分不足对转录本丰度的潜在影响，以及五种主要代谢物的精油组成，即 1-8 桉树脑、α-β-thujone、樟脑和冰片在三种基因型鼠尾草中。结果表明，干旱条件下三个基因及其相应代谢物的相对表达量在三个阶段同时增加，但CS花园鼠尾草中的基因转录物独立于 1,8-桉树脑而减少。此外，与罗伊特兰(Yasuj)对照和干旱处理植物中的BS基因表达相比，冰片发生了不同的变化。SS基因竞争性合成ß-thujone和α-thujone在S. officinalis和S. reuterana的Yasuj生态型中得到证实；而，没有观察到变化为生态型乌尔米耶S. reuterana。鼠尾草中冰片和樟脑的合成不存在前体短缺现象；然而，增加BS 会导致罗伊特拉纳( S. reuterana)中冰片的高产量和低樟脑的产量在干旱胁迫下。作为一种机制，次生代谢物使植物能够应对不利条件，但遗传差异可能会影响这些化合物的数量和质量。