Plant Metabolomics in a Nutshell: Potential and Future Challenges

Abstract

In just 10 years, plant metabolomics has been transformed from a purely theoretical concept into a highly valued and widely exploited technology. Moving on from the many and wide-ranging hopes, enthused upon in a multitude of early reviews, metabolomics for plant research has already proved itself despite the technology still experiencing certain limitations. We have a long road to travel before we reach our desired destination -a very happy place where large-scale, (semi-) automated, unbiased multiplex analyses of plant materials, leading to exhaustive lists of named metabolites become possible. This biochemical Holy Grail will, by definition, never be reached. Nevertheless, continued advances in hardware, software and biostatistics are enabling us to generate ever-advancing, detailed insights into the chemical composition of plants and how this is influenced by genetical and environmental perturbation. There continues to be a major driving force behind further developments, spurred on by myriad existing and potentially new applications in both applied and fundamental plant science. It is no longer so much a case of hope springs eternal but rather, who dares wins!

Multivariate Analysis in Metabolomics

“…This occurs because a simple change in the expression level of a gene or protein does not necessarily correlate directly with a variation in the activity level of a protein, but an alteration in a metabolite only occurs through such a change [7]. Consequently, metabolomics has been used to identify disease biomarkers [8, 9], to aid in the drug discovery process [10, 11], and to study plants [12], bacteria [13, 14], nutrition [15], and the environment [16], among numerous other applications [17]. …”

Metabolomic profiling in tomato reveals diel compositional changes in fruit affected by source–sink relationships

“…Nowadays, leaf and fruit compositional changes can be described in detail using metabolomics combining several analytical strategies ( Hall, 2011 ). Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-NMR) of polar extracts give access to a range of primary metabolites.…”

Metabolic changes in the content of organic acids in roots of Glycine max (Fabaceae) at the early stages of symbiosis formation under the influence of fungicides

“…Аналіз метаболічних змін у рослинному організмі в умовах стресу різної природи дозволяє виявити та ідентифікувати сполуки, які відсутні за нормальних умов росту рослин, що розкриває певні шляхи регулювання адаптивного потенціалу рослин (Thapa et al, 2011;Obata, 2012). Дослідження метаболомного профілю рослин за дії різних чинників абіотичної та біотичної природи дає максимальну інформацію про обмін речовин у рослинному організмі (Roessner, 2009;Hall, 2011) та дозволяє розкрити механізми формування адаптивних реакцій рослини на стрес й окреслити шляхи його подолання.…”