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Allwood JW, Williams A, Uthe H, van Dam NM, Mur LAJ, Grant MR, Pétriacq P. Unravelling Plant Responses to Stress-The Importance of Targeted and Untargeted Metabolomics. Metabolites 2021; 11:558. [PMID: 34436499 PMCID: PMC8398504 DOI: 10.3390/metabo11080558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Climate change and an increasing population, present a massive global challenge with respect to environmentally sustainable nutritious food production. Crop yield enhancements, through breeding, are decreasing, whilst agricultural intensification is constrained by emerging, re-emerging, and endemic pests and pathogens, accounting for ~30% of global crop losses, as well as mounting abiotic stress pressures, due to climate change. Metabolomics approaches have previously contributed to our knowledge within the fields of molecular plant pathology and plant-insect interactions. However, these remain incredibly challenging targets, due to the vast diversity in metabolite volatility and polarity, heterogeneous mixtures of pathogen and plant cells, as well as rapid rates of metabolite turn-over. Unravelling the systematic biochemical responses of plants to various individual and combined stresses, involves monitoring signaling compounds, secondary messengers, phytohormones, and defensive and protective chemicals. This demands both targeted and untargeted metabolomics approaches, as well as a range of enzymatic assays, protein assays, and proteomic and transcriptomic technologies. In this review, we focus upon the technical and biological challenges of measuring the metabolome associated with plant stress. We illustrate the challenges, with relevant examples from bacterial and fungal molecular pathologies, plant-insect interactions, and abiotic and combined stress in the environment. We also discuss future prospects from both the perspective of key innovative metabolomic technologies and their deployment in breeding for stress resistance.
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Affiliation(s)
- James William Allwood
- Environmental and Biochemical Sciences, James Hutton Institute, Errol Road, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK
| | - Alex Williams
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK;
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, Biosciences, The University of Sheffield Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK
| | - Henriette Uthe
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Molecular Interaction Ecology Group, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Puschstr. 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; (H.U.); (N.M.v.D.)
| | - Nicole M. van Dam
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Molecular Interaction Ecology Group, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Puschstr. 4, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; (H.U.); (N.M.v.D.)
| | - Luis A. J. Mur
- Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), Edward Llwyd Building, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DA, UK;
| | - Murray R. Grant
- Gibbet Hill Campus, School of Life Sciences, The University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK;
| | - Pierre Pétriacq
- UMR 1332 Fruit Biology and Pathology, Centre INRAE de Nouvelle Aquitaine Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, 33140 Villenave d’Ornon, France
- Bordeaux Metabolome, MetaboHUB, PHENOME-EMPHASIS, Centre INRAE de Nouvelle Aquitaine-Bordeaux, 33140 Villenave d’Ornon, France
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