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Vicente R, Vergara-Díaz O, Uberegui E, Martínez-Peña R, Morcuende R, Kefauver SC, López-Cristoffanini C, Aparicio N, Serret MD, Araus JL. Non-foliar photosynthesis and nitrogen assimilation influence grain yield in durum wheat regardless of water conditions. J Exp Bot 2024:erae064. [PMID: 38400803 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erae064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/26/2024]
Abstract
There is a need to generate improved crop varieties adapted to the ongoing changes in the climate. We studied durum wheat canopy and central metabolism of six different photosynthetic organs in two yield-contrasting varieties. The aim was to understand the mechanisms associated with the water stress response and yield performance. Water stress strongly reduced grain yield, plant biomass and leaf photosynthesis, and downregulated C/N-metabolism genes and key protein levels, which occurred mainly in leaf blades. By contrast, higher yield was associated with high ear dry weight and lower biomass and ears per area, highlighting the advantage of reduced tillering and its consequent improvement in sink strength that promoted C/N metabolism at the whole plant level. An improved C metabolism in blades and ear bracts and N assimilation in all photosynthetic organs facilitated C/N remobilisation to the grain and promoted yield. Therefore, we propose that further yield gains in Mediterranean conditions could be achieved by considering the source-sink dynamics and the contribution of non-foliar organs, particularly N assimilation and remobilisation during the late growth stages. We highlight the power of linking phenotyping with plant metabolism to identify novel traits at the whole plant level to support breeding programmes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rubén Vicente
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
- Plant Ecophysiology and Metabolism Group, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Omar Vergara-Díaz
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain
- Plant Ecophysiology and Metabolism Group, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Estefanía Uberegui
- Genetics and Genomics of Plant Complex Traits, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Raquel Martínez-Peña
- Cereals Group, Section of Herbaceous, Agro-technological Institute of Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Rosa Morcuende
- Department of Abiotic Stress, Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA-CSIC), Salamanca, Spain
| | - Shawn C Kefauver
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain
| | - Camilo López-Cristoffanini
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain
- Center for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nieves Aparicio
- Cereals Group, Section of Herbaceous, Agro-technological Institute of Castilla y León, Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain
| | - María Dolores Serret
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain
| | - José Luis Araus
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain
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Martínez-Peña R, Vergara-Díaz O, Schlereth A, Höhne M, Morcuende R, Nieto-Taladriz MT, Araus JL, Aparicio N, Vicente R. Analysis of durum wheat photosynthetic organs during grain filling reveals the ear as a water stress-tolerant organ and the peduncle as the largest pool of primary metabolites. Planta 2023; 257:81. [PMID: 36917306 PMCID: PMC10014764 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-023-04115-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 03/04/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The pool of carbon- and nitrogen-rich metabolites is quantitatively relevant in non-foliar photosynthetic organs during grain filling, which have a better response to water limitation than flag leaves. The response of durum wheat to contrasting water regimes has been extensively studied at leaf and agronomic level in previous studies, but the water stress effects on source-sink dynamics, particularly non-foliar photosynthetic organs, is more limited. Our study aims to investigate the response of different photosynthetic organs to water stress and to quantify the pool of carbon and nitrogen metabolites available for grain filling. Five durum wheat varieties were grown in field trials in the Spanish region of Castile and León under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Water stress led to a significant decrease in yield, biomass, and carbon and nitrogen assimilation, improved water use efficiency, and modified grain quality traits in the five varieties. The pool of carbon (glucose, glucose-6-phosphate, fructose, sucrose, starch, and malate) and nitrogen (glutamate, amino acids, proteins and chlorophylls) metabolites in leaf blades and sheaths, peduncles, awns, glumes and lemmas were also analysed. The results showed that the metabolism of the blades and peduncles was the most susceptible to water stress, while ear metabolism showed higher stability, particularly at mid-grain filling. Interestingly, the total metabolite content per organ highlighted that a large source of nutrients, which may be directly involved in grain filling, are found outside the blades, with the peduncles being quantitatively the most relevant. We conclude that yield improvements in our Mediterranean agro-ecosystem are highly linked to the success of shoots in producing ears and a higher number of grains, while grain filling is highly dependent on the capacity of non-foliar organs to fix CO2 and N. The ear organs show higher stress resilience than other organs, which deserves our attention in future breeding programmes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raquel Martínez-Peña
- Cereals Group, Section of Herbaceous, Agro-Technological Institute of Castile and León, Junta de Castile and León, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Omar Vergara-Díaz
- Plant Ecophysiology and Metabolism Group, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), Oeiras, Portugal
| | - Armin Schlereth
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Melanie Höhne
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Rosa Morcuende
- Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Salamanca, Spain
| | - María Teresa Nieto-Taladriz
- Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid, Spain
| | - José Luis Araus
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Section of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, and AGROTECNIO-CERCA Center, Lleida, Spain
| | - Nieves Aparicio
- Cereals Group, Section of Herbaceous, Agro-Technological Institute of Castile and León, Junta de Castile and León, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Rubén Vicente
- Plant Ecophysiology and Metabolism Group, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), Oeiras, Portugal.
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany.
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Martínez-Peña R, Schlereth A, Höhne M, Encke B, Morcuende R, Nieto-Taladriz MT, Araus JL, Aparicio N, Vicente R. Source-Sink Dynamics in Field-Grown Durum Wheat Under Contrasting Nitrogen Supplies: Key Role of Non-Foliar Organs During Grain Filling. Front Plant Sci 2022; 13:869680. [PMID: 35574116 PMCID: PMC9100808 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2022.869680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
The integration of high-throughput phenotyping and metabolic approaches is a suitable strategy to study the genotype-by-environment interaction and identify novel traits for crop improvement from canopy to an organ level. Our aims were to study the phenotypic and metabolic traits that are related to grain yield and quality at canopy and organ levels, with a special focus on source-sink coordination under contrasting N supplies. Four modern durum wheat varieties with contrasting grain yield were grown in field conditions under two N fertilization levels in north-eastern Spain. We evaluated canopy vegetation indices taken throughout the growing season, physiological and metabolic traits in different photosynthetic organs (flag leaf blade, sheath, peduncle, awn, glume, and lemma) at anthesis and mid-grain filling stages, and agronomic and grain quality traits at harvest. Low N supply triggered an imbalance of C and N coordination at the whole plant level, leading to a reduction of grain yield and nutrient composition. The activities of key enzymes in C and N metabolism as well as the levels of photoassimilates showed that each organ plays an important role during grain filling, some with a higher photosynthetic capacity, others for nutrient storage for later stages of grain filling, or N assimilation and recycling. Interestingly, the enzyme activities and sucrose content of the ear organs were positively associated with grain yield and quality, suggesting, together with the regression models using isotope signatures, the potential contribution of these organs during grain filling. This study highlights the use of holistic approaches to the identification of novel targets to improve grain yield and quality in C3 cereals and the key role of non-foliar organs at late-growth stages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raquel Martínez-Peña
- Group of Cereals, Section of Herbaceous, Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León (ITACyL), Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Armin Schlereth
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Melanie Höhne
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Beatrice Encke
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Rosa Morcuende
- Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Salamanca (IRNASA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Salamanca, Spain
| | | | - José Luis Araus
- Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Section of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nieves Aparicio
- Group of Cereals, Section of Herbaceous, Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León (ITACyL), Junta de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain
| | - Rubén Vicente
- Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam, Germany
- Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA), Plant Ecophysiology and Metabolism Group, Oeiras, Portugal
- *Correspondence: Rubén Vicente
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