Metabolic Profiling of Phloem Exudates as a Tool to Improve Bread-Wheat Cultivars

Abstract

Abstract:In a proof of concept study aimed at showing that metabolites in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ssp. aestivum), phloem exudates have potential as biochemical markers for cultivar discrimination, Argentinean cultivars from three quality groups (groups 1, 2, and 3 of high, intermediate, and low quality, respectively) were grown under two nitrogen (N) availabilities and analysed for metabolic profile by electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. Data as signal strengths of mass/charge (m/z) values binned to a resolution of 0.2 Daltons were subjected to principal component analysis and orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis. Certain bins were influential in discriminating groups taken in pairs and some were involved in separating all three groups. In high N availability, group 3 cultivars clustered away from the other cultivars, while group 1 cultivars clustered tightly together; group 2 cultivars were more scattered between group 1 and group 3 cultivars. In low N availability, the cultivars were not clustered as tightly; nonetheless, group 1 cultivars tended to cluster together and mainly separated from those of group 2. m/z values also showed potential for discrimination between N availability. In conclusion, phloem exudate metabolic profiles could provide biochemical markers for selection during breeding and for discerning the effects of N fertiliser application.

Rice leaves undergo a rapid metabolic reconfiguration during a specific stage of primordium development

“…Metabolite fingerprinting is a powerful tool that has proven useful in a wide area of biology, including medical diagnostics (Wei et al ., 2021), discriminating plant populations (Basile et al ., 2018; Xiao et al ., 2018) and tracking plant pathogen infection (Rubert et al ., 2017) as just a few examples. In the field of developmental biology, metabolite fingerprinting has proven a useful tool to differentiate between different embryonic stages in both Drosophila melanogaster and zebrafish (An et al ., 2014, Dhillon et al ., 2019).…”

Molecular Genetics, Genomics, and Biotechnology in Crop Plant Breeding

“…Metabolic profiling of phloem exudates has been developed as a biochemical marker to discriminate between wheat varieties [11]. The paper presented the use of advanced instrumentation for direct injection mass spectrometry (DIMS) through electrospray ionization time-of-flight (ESI-TOF-MS), which offers a rapid method to obtain an initial metabolic profile of samples.…”