Linking the morphological and metabolomic response of Lactuca sativa L exposed to emerging contaminants using GC × GC-MS and chemometric tools

Abstract

The occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in irrigation waters (up to low μg L−1) and irrigated crops (ng g−1 in dry weight) has been reported, but the linkage between plant morphological changes and plant metabolomic response has not yet been addressed. In this study, a non-targeted metabolomic analysis was performed on lettuce (Lactuca sativa L) exposed to 11 CECs (pharmaceuticals, personal care products, anticorrosive agents and surfactants) by irrigation. The plants were watered with different CEC concentrations (0–50 µg L−1) for 34 days under controlled conditions and then harvested, extracted, derivatised and analysed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC × GC-TOFMS). The resulting raw data were analysed using multivariate curve resolution (MCR) and partial least squares (PLS) methods. The metabolic response indicates that exposure to CECs at environmentally relevant concentrations (0.05 µg L−1) can cause significant metabolic alterations in plants (carbohydrate metabolism, the citric acid cycle, pentose phosphate pathway and glutathione pathway) linked to changes in morphological parameters (leaf height, stem width) and chlorophyll content.

Untargeted Metabolomics Analysis of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Fruit and Its Correlation to Fruit Morphologies

“…However, the vast number of metabolites in plants and their biological systems are still a challenge for metabolomics research. Metabolic alterations in lettuce ( Lactuca sativa L.) caused by different CECs (contaminants of emerging concern) from exposure to irrigation water were linked to the changes in morphological characteristics such as leaf height and stem width [ 45 ]. This indicates that plant metabolites are correlated with plant morphological characteristics.…”

On the contribution of reclaimed wastewater irrigation to the potential exposure of humans to antibiotics, antibiotic resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes – NEREUS COST Action ES1403 position paper

“…Following the same line of thought, endophytic bacteria appear as important elements on plant physiology, not only as parasites, but also by reinforcing different metabolic functions of the plant. Related to this, there is increasing information showing that irrigating crop plants with water polluted with different CEC alters the plant metabolism and, in some cases, reduces its growth [43]. While it is not clear that the quality of the final edible product may decrease due to this, it seems obvious that at least some of its organoleptic properties may also vary.…”

Heterotic patterns of primary and secondary metabolites in the oilseed crop Brassica juncea

“…For interpretation of the PLS model, VIP (variable importance projection) scores were used, where VIP scores symbolized the influence of each variable on the PLS model. VIP scores were useful in determining the metabolites that primarily influenced the morphological parameters (Hurtado et al 2017). Therefore, VIP scores of the selected model were used to find out the most discriminatory metabolite for a specific morphological parameter.…”