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Melandri G, Monteverde E, Riewe D, AbdElgawad H, McCouch SR, Bouwmeester H. Can biochemical traits bridge the gap between genomics and plant performance? A study in rice under drought. Plant Physiol 2022; 189:1139-1152. [PMID: 35166848 PMCID: PMC9157150 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiac053] [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] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
The possibility of introducing metabolic/biochemical phenotyping to complement genomics-based predictions in breeding pipelines has been considered for years. Here we examine to what extent and under what environmental conditions metabolic/biochemical traits can effectively contribute to understanding and predicting plant performance. In this study, multivariable statistical models based on flag leaf central metabolism and oxidative stress status were used to predict grain yield (GY) performance for 271 indica rice (Oryza sativa) accessions grown in the field under well-watered and reproductive stage drought conditions. The resulting models displayed significantly higher predictability than multivariable models based on genomic data for the prediction of GY under drought (Q2 = 0.54-0.56 versus 0.35) and for stress-induced GY loss (Q2 = 0.59-0.64 versus 0.03-0.06). Models based on the combined datasets showed predictabilities similar to metabolic/biochemical-based models alone. In contrast to genetic markers, models with enzyme activities and metabolite values also quantitatively integrated the effect of physiological differences such as plant height on GY. The models highlighted antioxidant enzymes of the ascorbate-glutathione cycle and a lipid oxidation stress marker as important predictors of rice GY stability under drought at the reproductive stage, and these stress-related variables were more predictive than leaf central metabolites. These findings provide evidence that metabolic/biochemical traits can integrate dynamic cellular and physiological responses to the environment and can help bridge the gap between the genome and the phenome of crops as predictors of GY performance under drought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giovanni Melandri
- Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
- School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Eliana Monteverde
- School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
- Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Agronomía, Laboratorio de Evolución y Domesticación de las Plantas, Universidad de La República, Montevideo, Uruguay
| | - David Riewe
- Julius Kühn-Institute (JKI), Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Institute for Ecological Chemistry, Plant Analysis and Stored Product Protection, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), Seeland, Germany
| | - Hamada AbdElgawad
- Laboratory for Integrated Molecular Plant Physiology Research, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
- Department of Botany, Faculty of Science, Beni-Suef University, Beni Suef, Egypt
| | - Susan R McCouch
- School of Integrative Plant Sciences, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
| | - Harro Bouwmeester
- Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands
- Plant Hormone Biology group, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
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