Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Wissenschaftspark Golm, Am Mühlenberg 1, Potsdam-Golm, D-14476, Germany.
Plant Cell Environ. 2012 Jan;35(1):136-49. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3040.2011.02423.x. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
Water limitation has become a major concern for agriculture. Such constraints reinforce the urgent need to understand mechanisms by which plants cope with water deprivation. We used a non-targeted metabolomic approach to explore plastic systems responses to non-lethal drought in model and forage legume species of the Lotus genus. In the model legume Lotus. japonicus, increased water stress caused gradual increases of most of the soluble small molecules profiled, reflecting a global and progressive reprogramming of metabolic pathways. The comparative metabolomic approach between Lotus species revealed conserved and unique metabolic responses to drought stress. Importantly, only few drought-responsive metabolites were conserved among all species. Thus we highlight a potential impediment to translational approaches that aim to engineer traits linked to the accumulation of compatible solutes. Finally, a broad comparison of the metabolic changes elicited by drought and salt acclimation revealed partial conservation of these metabolic stress responses within each of the Lotus species, but only few salt- and drought-responsive metabolites were shared between all. The implications of these results are discussed with regard to the current insights into legume water stress physiology.
水资源限制已成为农业的主要关注点。这些限制因素加剧了人们迫切需要了解植物应对水分胁迫的机制。我们使用非靶向代谢组学方法研究了模式豆科植物和饲料豆科植物百脉根属植物对非致死性干旱的塑性系统反应。在模式豆科植物百脉根中，随着水分胁迫的增加，大部分可溶小分子的含量逐渐增加，反映了代谢途径的全面和渐进的重新编程。百脉根属植物之间的比较代谢组学方法揭示了对干旱胁迫的保守和独特的代谢反应。重要的是，在所有物种中只有少数耐旱响应代谢物是保守的。因此，我们强调了一种潜在的障碍，即旨在设计与积累相容溶质相关的特性的转化方法。最后，对干旱和盐驯化引起的代谢变化的广泛比较表明，在每种百脉根属植物中，这些代谢应激反应都有部分保守，但所有这些植物中只有少数盐和耐旱响应代谢物是共享的。这些结果与豆科植物水分胁迫生理学的当前见解有关。
