Elucidating the systemic response of wheat plants under waterlogging based on transcriptomic and metabolic approaches

Abstract

Extreme weather conditions lead to significant imbalances in crop productivity, which in turn affect food security. Flooding events cause serious problems to many crop species such as wheat. Although metabolic readjustments under flooding are important for plant regeneration, underlying processes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the systemic response of wheat to waterlogging using metabolomics and transcriptomics. A 12-day exposure to excess water triggered nutritional imbalances and disruption of metabolite synthesis and translocation, reflected by reduction of plant biomass and growth performance. Metabolic and transcriptomic profiling in roots, xylem, and leaves indicated anaerobic fermentation processes as a local response occurring in roots. Differentially expressed genes and ontological categories revealed that carbohydrate metabolism plays an important role as a systemic response. Analysis of the translocation rate of specific compounds in the xylem showed how waterlogging alters the composition of xylem exudates and thus the root to shoot communication. Interestingly, among all metabolites determined in our study, alanine was the most abundant transported in the xylem. Our results suggest an important role of this amino acid not only as amino-nitrogen source but also as the major root-to-shoot translocated and systemically acting metabolite crucial for balancing C/N between roots and shoots during waterlogging

Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analyses Reveal the Response Mechanism of Ophiopogon japonicus to Waterlogging Stress

“…Metabolic regulation is an important mechanism enabling plants to sustain their physiological functions during waterlogging [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. Plant gene transcription and product metabolism actively engage in multiple metabolic pathways to adapt to such stressors.…”

Moderate organic fertilizer substitution for partial chemical fertilizer improved soil microbial carbon source utilization and bacterial community composition in rain-fed wheat fields: current year

“…K02433 represents an aminoacyl tRNA synthetase that can specifically recognize aspartic acid and glutamyl amine and form aminoacyl tRNA with the corresponding tRNA. Ammonium is the main nitrogen source of plants, and it is assimilated into asparagine through the catalytic reaction of asparagine synthetase (GLN), which then forms aspartic amino acid through different amino acid transferases to complete the recycling in ammonia sources of different forms (Cid et al, 2022 ). In this study, the abundance of related enzyme genes in the above amino acid metabolism process showed clear enrichment in FO3.…”