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PMID: 26424159 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Metabolite Profiles of Maize Leaves in Drought, Heat, and Combined Stress Field Trials Reveal the Relationship between Metabolism and Grain Yield.

Plant physiology ·Vol. 169 ·No. 4 ·2015-12-00 ·Pages 2665-83

Obata T, Witt S, Lisec J, Palacios-Rojas N, Florez-Sarasa I, Yousfi S, Araus JL, Cairns JE, Fernie AR

Abstract

The development of abiotic stress-resistant cultivars is of premium importance for the agriculture of developing countries. Further progress in maize (Zea mays) performance under stresses is expected by combining marker-assisted breeding with metabolite markers. In order to dissect metabolic responses and to identify promising metabolite marker candidates, metabolite profiles of maize leaves were analyzed and compared with grain yield in field trials. Plants were grown under well-watered conditions (control) or exposed to drought, heat, and both stresses simultaneously. Trials were conducted in 2010 and 2011 using 10 tropical hybrids selected to exhibit diverse abiotic stress tolerance. Drought stress evoked the accumulation of many amino acids, including isoleucine, valine, threonine, and 4-aminobutanoate, which has been commonly reported in both field and greenhouse experiments in many plant species. Two photorespiratory amino acids, glycine and serine, and myoinositol also accumulated under drought. The combination of drought and heat evoked relatively few specific responses, and most of the metabolic changes were predictable from the sum of the responses to individual stresses. Statistical analysis revealed significant correlation between levels of glycine and myoinositol and grain yield under drought. Levels of myoinositol in control conditions were also related to grain yield under drought. Furthermore, multiple linear regression models very well explained the variation of grain yield via the combination of several metabolites. These results indicate the importance of photorespiration and raffinose family oligosaccharide metabolism in grain yield under drought and suggest single or multiple metabolites as potential metabolic markers for the breeding of abiotic stress-tolerant maize.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acids/metabolism Analysis of Variance Biomass Droughts Edible Grain/metabolism Genotype Hot Temperature Hybridization, Genetic Metabolome Metabolomics/methods Oligosaccharides/metabolism Plant Leaves/genetics,metabolism Principal Component Analysis Seasons Species Specificity Stress, Physiological Zea mays/classification,genetics,metabolism
Chemicals
Amino Acids Oligosaccharides
Authors & Affiliations
9 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Obata Toshihiro ORCID
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.) obata@mpimp-golm.mpg.de.
Witt Sandra
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Lisec Jan
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Palacios-Rojas Natalia
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Florez-Sarasa Igor ORCID
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Yousfi Salima
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Araus Jose Luis
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Cairns Jill E ORCID
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Fernie Alisdair R
Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
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Article Info
Journal
Plant physiology
Abbr.
Plant Physiol
ISSN
1532-2548
DOI
10.1104/pp.15.01164
Email
obata@mpimp-golm.mpg.de
Published
2015-12-00
Epub
2015-00-30
Pages
2665-83
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0401224
PMCID
PMC4677906
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1104/pp.15.01164 PMC Full Text View journal details
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