Leporino Marzia, Rouphael Youssef, Bonini Paolo, Colla Giuseppe, Cardarelli Mariateresa
Department of Agriculture and Forest Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy.
Department of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Naples, Portici, Italy.
Front Plant Sci. 2024 Mar 12;15:1357316. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1357316. eCollection 2024.
High-throughput phenotyping technologies together with metabolomics analysis can speed up the development of highly efficient and effective biostimulants for enhancing crop tolerance to drought stress. The aim of this study was to examine the morphophysiological and metabolic changes in tomato plants foliarly treated with two protein hydrolysates obtained by enzymatic hydrolysis of vegetal proteins from Malvaceae (PH1) or Fabaceae (PH2) in comparison with a control treatment, as well as to investigate the mechanisms involved in the enhancement of plant resistance to repeated drought stress cycles.
A phenotyping device was used for daily monitoring morphophysiological traits while untargeted metabolomics analysis was carried out in leaves of the best performing treatment based on phenotypic results. PH1 treatment was the most effective in enhancing plant resistance to water stress due to the better recovery of digital biomass and 3D leaf area after each water stress event while PH2 was effective in mitigating water stress only during the recovery period after the first drought stress event. Metabolomics data indicated that PH1 modified primary metabolism by increasing the concentration of dipeptides and fatty acids in comparison with untreated control, as well as secondary metabolism by regulating several compounds like phenols. In contrast, hormones and compounds involved in detoxification or signal molecules against reactive oxygen species were downregulated in comparison with untreated control.
The above findings demonstrated the advantages of a combined phenomics-metabolomics approach for elucidating the relationship between metabolic and morphophysiological changes associated with a biostimulant-mediated increase of crop resistance to repeated water stress events.
高通量表型分析技术与代谢组学分析相结合，可以加快高效生物刺激剂的开发，以增强作物对干旱胁迫的耐受性。本研究的目的是研究用两种通过酶解锦葵科植物蛋白（PH1）或豆科植物蛋白（PH2）获得的蛋白水解物叶面处理番茄植株后，与对照处理相比的形态生理和代谢变化，并研究植物对反复干旱胁迫循环抗性增强所涉及的机制。
使用表型分析装置每日监测形态生理性状，同时根据表型结果对表现最佳的处理的叶片进行非靶向代谢组学分析。PH1处理在增强植物对水分胁迫的抗性方面最有效，因为每次水分胁迫事件后数字生物量和三维叶面积恢复得更好，而PH2仅在第一次干旱胁迫事件后的恢复期对减轻水分胁迫有效。代谢组学数据表明，与未处理的对照相比，PH1通过增加二肽和脂肪酸的浓度改变了初级代谢，并通过调节几种化合物如酚类改变了次级代谢。相比之下，与未处理的对照相比，参与解毒或针对活性氧的信号分子的激素和化合物被下调。
上述发现证明了联合表型组学-代谢组学方法在阐明与生物刺激剂介导的作物对反复水分胁迫事件抗性增加相关的代谢和形态生理变化之间关系方面的优势。
