Highly Species-Specific Foliar Metabolomes of Diverse Woody Species and Relationships with the Leaf Economics Spectrum

Abstract

Plants show an extraordinary diversity in chemical composition and are characterized by different functional traits. However, relationships between the foliar primary and specialized metabolism in terms of metabolite numbers and composition as well as links with the leaf economics spectrum have rarely been explored. We investigated these relationships in leaves of 20 woody species from the Mediterranean region grown as saplings in a common garden, using a comparative ecometabolomics approach that included (semi-)polar primary and specialized metabolites. Our analyses revealed significant positive correlations between both the numbers and relative composition of primary and specialized metabolites. The leaf metabolomes were highly species-specific but in addition showed some phylogenetic imprints. Moreover, metabolomes of deciduous species were distinct from those of evergreens. Significant relationships were found between the primary metabolome and nitrogen content and carbon/nitrogen ratio, important traits of the leaf economics spectrum, ranging from acquisitive (mostly deciduous) to conservative (evergreen) leaves. A comprehensive understanding of various leaf traits and their coordination in different plant species may facilitate our understanding of plant functioning in ecosystems. Chemodiversity is thereby an important component of biodiversity.

Chemical phenotype as important and dynamic niche dimension of plants

“…We argue that plants use their plethora of constitutive phytochemicals and those that are induced by abiotic and biotic impacts, together shaping their individual‐specific chemodiversity, to compensate for their immobility. Just as the niche, chemodiversity does hugely vary across species (Schweiger et al ., 2021) and populations (Li et al ., 2015; Ginigini et al ., 2019), but also among individuals within species (e.g. Bustos‐Segura et al ., 2017; Glassmire et al ., 2019; Eilers et al ., 2021; reviewed in Kessler & Kalske, 2018; Wetzel & Whitehead, 2020).…”

Influences of chemotype and parental genotype on metabolic fingerprints of tansy plants uncovered by predictive metabolomics

“…For UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS (UHPLC: Dionex UltiMate 3000, Thermo Fisher Scientific, San José, CA, USA; QTOF: compact, Bruker Daltonics, Bremen, Germany), the separation was performed on a Kinetex XB-C18 column (150 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm, with guard column; Phenomenex) at 45 °C and a flow rate of 0.5 mL min -1 using a gradient from eluent A, i.e. Millipore-H2O with 0.1% formic acid (FA), to eluent B (acetonitrile with 0.1% FA): 2 to 30% B within 20 min, increase to 75% B within 9 min, followed by column cleaning and equilibration, as described in Schweiger et al (2021) 53 . The QTOF was operated in negative electrospray ionisation (ESI) mode at a spectra rate of 6 Hz in the m/z (mass-to-charge) range of 50-1300.…”

“…For analyses of metabolic fingerprints by UHPLC-QTOF-MS/MS, dried leaf material was homogenised and 8 ± 2 mg samples were extracted in methanol 90% (v:v) containing hydrocortisone as internal standard (Sigma-Aldrich, Steinheim, Germany) by sonicating in an ice bath for 15 minutes. Supernatants were collected, centrifugated for 10 minutes and filtered using 0.2 µm filters (Phenomenex, Torrance, CA, USA) as previously described 53 .…”

Fungicides Cuprozin Progress and SWITCH Modulate Primary and Specialized Metabolites of Strawberry Fruits

“…Sugars and (in)organic acids were analyzed from strawberry fruits as in Schweiger et al 23 Therefore, 4 mg of fruit material was extracted in a 2.5:1:1 mixture (v:v:v) of methanol, water, and chloroform (both AppliChem), containing ribitol (Sigma-Aldrich) as internal standard. After phase separation, the aqueous phase was dried, and aliquots methoxymated with O -methylhydroxylamine hydrochloride (MeOX) (Sigma-Aldrich) dissolved in pyridine (Sigma-Aldrich), and subsequently silylated with N , O -bis(tri-methylsily)trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA) supplemented with 1% tri-methylsilyl chloride (Sigma-Aldrich); both incubated for 30 min at 50 °C.…”