Targeted and untargeted metabolomics reveals deep analysis of drought stress responses in needles and roots of Pinus taeda seedlings

Abstract

Drought stress is one of major environmental stresses affecting plant growth and yield. Although Pinus taeda trees are planted in rainy southern China, local drought sometime occurs and can last several months, further affecting their growth and resin production. In this study, P. taeda seedlings were treated with long-term drought (42 d), and then targeted and untargeted metabolomics analysis were carried out to evaluate drought tolerance of P. taeda. Targeted metabolomics analysis showed that levels of some sugars, phytohormones, and amino acids significantly increased in the roots and needles of water-stressed (WS) P. taeda seedlings, compared with well-watered (WW) pine seedlings. These metabolites included sucrose in pine roots, the phytohormones abscisic acid and sacylic acid in pine needles, the phytohormone gibberellin (GA4) and the two amino acids, glycine and asparagine, in WS pine roots. Compared with WW pine seedlings, the neurotransmitter acetylcholine significantly increased in needles of WS pine seedlings, but significantly reduced in their roots. The neurotransmitters L-glutamine and hydroxytyramine significantly increased in roots and needles of WS pine seedlings, respectively, compared with WW pine seedlings, but the neurotransmitter noradrenaline significantly reduced in needles of WS pine seedlings. Levels of some unsaturated fatty acids significantly reduced in roots or needles of WS pine seedlings, compared with WW pine seedlings, such as linoleic acid, oleic acid, myristelaidic acid, myristoleic acid in WS pine roots, and palmitelaidic acid, erucic acid, and alpha-linolenic acid in WS pine needles. However, three saturated fatty acids significantly increased in WS pine seedlings, i.e., dodecanoic acid in WS pine needles, tricosanoic acid and heptadecanoic acid in WS pine roots. Untargeted metabolomics analysis showed that levels of some metabolites increased in WS pine seedlings, especially sugars, long-chain lipids, flavonoids, and terpenoids. A few of specific metabolites increased greatly, such as androsin, piceatanol, and panaxatriol in roots and needles of WS pine seedlings. Comparing with WW pine seedlings, it was found that the most enriched pathways in WS pine needles included flavone and flavonol biosynthesis, ABC transporters, diterpenoid biosynthesis, plant hormone signal transduction, and flavonoid biosynthesis; in WS pine roots, the most enriched pathways included tryptophan metabolism, caffeine metabolism, sesquiterpenoid and triterpenoid biosynthesis, plant hormone signal transduction, biosynthesis of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. Under long-term drought stress, P. taeda seedlings showed their own metabolomics characteristics, and some new metabolites and biosynthesis pathways were found, providing a guideline for breeding drought-tolerant cultivars of P. taeda.

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Colonization of root endophytic fungus Serendipita indica improves drought tolerance of Pinus taeda seedlings by regulating metabolome and proteome

“…Facing drought stress, loblolly pine forest farm managers and tree physiologists have to find suitable ways to maintain survival, growth, and oleoresin yield of loblolly pine. The suitable ways include few aspects: (1) to clearly explore the genetic characteristics of loblolly pine (Lorenz et al, 2011;Wegrzyn et al, 2014;Perera et al, 2018;Caballero et al, 2021) and functions of genes and metabolites related to drought stress (González-Martínez et al, 2006;Lorenz et al, 2006;Talbot et al, 2017;Wu et al, 2023), further providing the base for genetic modification of loblolly pine; (2) based on genetic characteristics of loblolly pine, to breed new cultivars of loblolly pine with stronger drought tolerance (Zapata-Valenzuela et al, 2013;Matallana-Ramirez et al, 2021); (3) to take advantage of benefits from beneficial microbes, especially ectomycorrhizal fungi and root endophytic fungi under drought stress (Piculell et al, 2019;Wu et al, 2019;Frank and Garcia, 2021). Symbiosis between plants and microorganisms occurs wide in natural ecosystems, affects plant terrestrializations (Puginier et al, 2022), evolution (Batstone, 2022;van Galen et al, 2023), and tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress (Zeng et al, 2022), and widens the habitability ranges of plants (Muñoz and Carneiro, 2022).…”

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“…Plants can induce a variety of specialized metabolites by regulating metabolic networks to defend against drought stress [1]. Under drought stress, the synthesis of the genes of related metabolites in plants is induced, promoting the accumulation of related metabolites, mainly including primary metabolites (carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, nucleic acids, and organic acids) and secondary metabolites (such as alkaloids, phenols, quinones, xanthones, and terpenes) [2,3]. These substances play an important role in protecting plants from environmental stress and maintaining cell stability [4,5].…”