Metabolite Adjustments in Drought Tolerant and Sensitive Soybean Genotypes in Response to Water Stress

Abstract

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is an important source of protein for human and animal nutrition, as well as a major source of vegetable oil. The soybean crop requires adequate water all through its growth period to attain its yield potential, and the lack of soil moisture at critical stages of growth profoundly impacts the productivity. In this study, utilizing 1H NMR-based metabolite analysis combined with the physiological studies we assessed the effects of short-term water stress on overall growth, nitrogen fixation, ureide and proline dynamics, as well as metabolic changes in drought tolerant (NA5009RG) and sensitive (DM50048) genotypes of soybean in order to elucidate metabolite adjustments in relation to the physiological responses in the nitrogen-fixing plants towards water limitation. The results of our analysis demonstrated critical differences in physiological responses between these two genotypes, and identified the metabolic pathways that are affected by short-term water limitation in soybean plants. Metabolic changes in response to drought conditions highlighted pools of metabolites that play a role in the adjustment of metabolism and physiology of the soybean varieties to meet drought effects.

Effect of drought stress on bio-chemical change and cell membrane stability of soybean genotypes

“…Similar results was also observed by Ashraf and Iram (2005) in Phaseolus vulgaris. Accumulation of proline under stress in many plant species has been correlated with stress tolerance, and its concentration usually higher in stress tolerant than in stress sensitive plants (Silvente et al, 2012). Significant differences in proline content were observed among genotypes under water stress (Fig 1).…”

Effects of Drought and Elevated Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide on Seed Nutrition and 15N and 13C Natural Abundance Isotopes in Soybean Under Controlled Environments

“…It was reported that the physiological processes influenced by drought can be identified by the biochemical characterization of plant tissues under stress conditions [46]. Limited research was conducted to characterize the biochemical compounds such as protein, amino acids, carbohydrates, and phenolics in the breeding program as a tool for selection, but this tool has promise in selecting for abiotic stress tolerance [24,47].…”

Silicon Era of Carbon-Based Life: Application of Genomics and Bioinformatics in Crop Stress Research

“…Biological multivariate data generated from metabolomic studies are commonly analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) [202], partial least square (PLS) [203], and orthogonal projections to latent structures (O-PLS) [203,204]. Numerous metabolomic studies have been done on crops under stress, including: salinity [215][216][217], drought [218][219][220][221], flooding [222], ozone treatment [223], fungal infections [224][225][226], bacterial infections [217,227], other infections [228], and multiple stresses [229,230].…”

“…Signal patterns must be matched to known standards or depositions in the databases in order to identify the actual compounds. For example, the accumulation of compatible solutes, such as proline, glycine-betaine, and their precursors, is usually observed in osmotically stressed crops, especially in tolerant varieties [216,220,221]. A specific example is the mitochondrial metabolic profile of flood-stressed soybean; metabolites were extracted from the roots and hypocotyls of soybean seedlings with or without submergence stress [226], and were then analyzed using capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry.…”