Metabolomic Profiling of Nicotiana Spp. Nectars Indicate That Pollinator Feeding Preference Is a Stronger Determinant Than Plant Phylogenetics in Shaping Nectar Diversity

Silva, Fredy A.; Chatt, Elizabeth C.; Mahalim, Siti-Nabilla; Guirgis, Adel A.; Guo, Xingche; Nettleton, Dan; Nikolau, Basil J.; Thornburg, Robert W.

doi:10.3390/metabo10050214

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…The emergence of these strategies has been promoted by conflicting interests: plants aim at maximizing their sexual reproduction while minimizing the costly production of nectar, whereas pollinators aim at maximizing food collection less concerned about pollen transfer. Floral nectar is a pivotal element of such an ambiguous interaction, and its chemical composition is likely to have been shaped by such strong selective pressures 5 . As a result, floral nectars are far from being a simple sugary reward.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

Carlesso

Smargiassi

Pasquini

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Floral nectar is a pivotal element of the intimate relationship between plants and pollinators. Nectars are composed of a plethora of nutritionally valuable compounds but also hundreds of secondary metabolites (SMs) whose function remains elusive. Here we performed a set of behavioural experiments to study whether five ubiquitous nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs: β-alanine, GABA, citrulline, ornithine and taurine) interact with gustation, feeding preference, and learning and memory in Apis mellifera. We showed that foragers were unable to discriminate NPAAs from water when only accessing antennal chemo-tactile information and that freely moving bees did not exhibit innate feeding preferences for NPAAs. Also, NPAAs did not alter food consumption or longevity in caged bees over 10 days. Taken together our data suggest that natural concentrations of NPAAs did not alter nectar palatability to bees. Olfactory conditioning assays showed that honey bees were more likely to learn a scent when it signalled a sucrose reward containing either β-alanine or GABA, and that GABA enhanced specific memory retention. Conversely, when ingested two hours prior to conditioning, GABA, β-alanine, and taurine weakened bees’ acquisition performances but not specific memory retention, which was enhanced in the case of β-alanine and taurine. Neither citrulline nor ornithine affected learning and memory. NPAAs in nectars may represent a cooperative strategy adopted by plants to attract beneficial pollinators.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

Carlesso

Smargiassi

Pasquini

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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show abstract

“…Phylogenic variation be reflected by chemical composition or metabolomic characterization [ 27 , 52 , 53 ]. According to previous reports, teosinte, tropical maize and temperate maize exhibited significant divergences in distinct sets of metabolites [ 54 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Metabolomic Profiling of Citrullus spp. Fruits Provides Evidence for Metabolomic Divergence during Domestication

Yuan

Umer

et al. 2021

Metabolites

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Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) is one of the most nutritional fruits that is widely distributed in the whole world. The nutritional compositions are mainly influenced by the genotype and environment. However, the metabolomics of different domestication status and different flesh colors watermelon types is not fully understood. In this study, we reported an extensive assessment of metabolomic divergence in the fruit flesh among Citrullus sp. and within Citrullus sp. We demonstrate that metabolic profiling was significantly different between the wild and cultivated watermelons, the apigenin 6-C-glucoside, luteolin 6-C-glucoside, chrysoeriol C-hexoside, naringenin C-hexoside, C-pentosyl-chrysoeriol O-hexoside, and sucrose are the main divergent metabolites. Correlation analysis results revealed that flavonoids were present in one tight metabolite cluster. The main divergent metabolites in different flesh-colored cultivated watermelon fruits are p-coumaric acid, 2,3-dihydroflavone, catechin, N-(3-indolylacetyl)-l-alanine, 3,4-dihydroxycinnamic acid, and pelargonidin o-hexoside. A total of 431 differentially accumulated metabolites were identified from pairwise comparative analyses. C. lanatus edible-seed watermelon (cultivars) and C. mucosospermus (wild) have similar fruit metabolic profiles and phenotypic traits, indicating that edible-seed watermelon may be a relative of wild species and a relatively primitive differentiation type of cultivated watermelon. Our data provide extensive knowledge for metabolomics-based watermelon improvement of Citrullus fruits meet their enhanced nutritive properties or upgraded germplasm utility values.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

Carlesso¹,

Smargiassi²,

Pasquini³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Floral nectar is a pivotal element of the intimate relationship between plants and pollinators and its chemical composition is likely to have been shaped by strong selective pressures. Nectars are composed of a plethora of nutritionally valuable compounds but also hundreds of secondary metabolites (SMs) whose ecological role is still not completely understood. Here we performed a set of behavioural experiments to study whether five ubiquitous nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs: β-alanine, GABA, citrulline, ornithine and taurine) interact with gustation, feeding preference, and learning and memory in the pollinator Apis mellifera. We showed that harnessed foragers were unable to discriminate NPAAs from water when only accessing antennal chemo-tactile information and that freely moving bees did not exhibit innate feeding preferences for NPAA-laced sucrose solutions. Also, dietary consumption of NPAAs did not alter food consumption or longevity in caged bees over 10 days. Taken together our data suggest that ecologically relevant concentrations of NPAAs did not alter nectar palatability to bees. Olfactory conditioning assays showed that honey bees were more likely to learn a scent when it signalled a sucrose reward containing either β-alanine or GABA, and that GABA also enhanced specific memory retention. Conversely, when ingested two hours prior to conditioning, GABA, β-alanine, and taurine weakened bees’ acquisition performances but not specific memory retention, which was enhanced in the case of β-alanine and taurine. Neither citrulline nor ornithine affected learning and memory. Our study suggests that NPAAs in nectars may represent a cooperative strategy adopted by plants to attract beneficial pollinators, while simultaneously enhancing pollen transfer among conspecific flowers. Future work should validate these results in more ecological scenarios and extend the study to as many nectar SMs as possible, alone and in combination, as well as to other species of pollinators.

show abstract

Metabolomic Profiling of Nicotiana Spp. Nectars Indicate That Pollinator Feeding Preference Is a Stronger Determinant Than Plant Phylogenetics in Shaping Nectar Diversity

Cited by 10 publications

References 52 publications

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

Comparative Metabolomic Profiling of Citrullus spp. Fruits Provides Evidence for Metabolomic Divergence during Domestication

Nectar non-protein amino acids (NPAAs) do not change nectar palatability but enhance learning and memory in honey bees

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