Uncovering Pathways Highly Correlated to NUE through a Combined Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Approach in Eggplant.
Antonio MauceriMeriem Miyassa AciLaura ToppinoSayantan PandaSagit MeirFrancesco MercatiFabrizio AranitiAntonio LupiniMaria Rosaria PanuccioGiuseppe Leonardo RotinoAsaph AharoniMaria Rosa AbenavoliFrancesco SunseriPublished in: Plants (Basel, Switzerland) (2022)
Nitrogen (N) fertilization is one of the main inputs to increase crop yield and food production. However, crops utilize only 30-40% of N applied; the remainder is leached into the soil, causing environmental and health damage. In this scenario, the improvement of nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE) will be an essential strategy for sustainable agriculture. Here, we compared two pairs of NUE-contrasting eggplant ( Solanum melongena L.) genotypes, employing GC-MS and UPLC-qTOF-MS-based technologies to determine the differential profiles of primary and secondary metabolites in root and shoot tissues, under N starvation as well as at short- and long-term N-limiting resupply. Firstly, differences in the primary metabolism pathways of shoots related to alanine, aspartate and glutamate; starch, sucrose and glycine; serine and threonine; and in secondary metabolites biosynthesis were detected. An integrated analysis between differentially accumulated metabolites and expressed transcripts highlighted a key role of glycine accumulation and the related glyA transcript in the N-use-efficient genotypes to cope with N-limiting stress. Interestingly, a correlation between both sucrose synthase ( SUS )- and fructokinase ( scrK )-transcript abundances, as well as D-glucose and D-fructose accumulation, appeared useful to distinguish the N-use-efficient genotypes. Furthermore, increased levels of L-aspartate and L-asparagine in the N-use-efficient genotypes at short-term low-N exposure were detected. Granule-bound starch synthase ( WAXY ) and endoglucanase ( E3.2.1.4 ) downregulation at long-term N stress was observed. Therefore, genes and metabolites related to these pathways could be exploited to improve NUE in eggplant.
Keyphrases
- ms ms
- climate change
- mass spectrometry
- mental health
- public health
- rna seq
- oxidative stress
- human health
- type diabetes
- signaling pathway
- cell proliferation
- blood glucose
- stress induced
- social media
- adipose tissue
- blood pressure
- dna methylation
- heat stress
- insulin resistance
- health information
- liquid chromatography
- weight loss
- cell wall