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Review
. 2012 Oct;69(19):3225-43.
doi: 10.1007/s00018-012-1091-5. Epub 2012 Aug 12.

The use of metabolomics to dissect plant responses to abiotic stresses

Toshihiro Obata  1 , Alisdair R Fernie
Affiliations
Review

The use of metabolomics to dissect plant responses to abiotic stresses

Toshihiro Obata et al. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2012 Oct.

Abstract

Plant metabolism is perturbed by various abiotic stresses. As such the metabolic network of plants must be reconfigured under stress conditions in order to allow both the maintenance of metabolic homeostasis and the production of compounds that ameliorate the stress. The recent development and adoption of metabolomics and systems biology approaches enable us not only to gain a comprehensive overview, but also a detailed analysis of crucial components of the plant metabolic response to abiotic stresses. In this review we introduce the analytical methods used for plant metabolomics and describe their use in studies related to the metabolic response to water, temperature, light, nutrient limitation, ion and oxidative stresses. Both similarity and specificity of the metabolic responses against diverse abiotic stress are evaluated using data available in the literature. Classically discussed stress compounds such as proline, γ-amino butyrate and polyamines are reviewed, and the widespread importance of branched chain amino acid metabolism under stress condition is discussed. Finally, where possible, mechanistic insights into metabolic regulatory processes are discussed.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Changes of the levels of metabolites in Arabidopsis leaves under various abiotic stress conditions. Each datum represents the relative metabolite level in the fold change value against control growth conditions at one time point. The values are taken from studies on dehydration [28], salt [79], heat and cold [57], high light [65], light quality change [71], UV-B light (UV) [74], low nitrogen (Low N) [104], sulphur limitation (-S) [65] and potassium limitation (-K) [116] stresses. The data set used for the analysis is found in Supplementary data, Table S1. The bars with different colours represent the values from different studies as shown in the figure. Only the metabolites of interest are shown. The charts for all metabolites are presented as Supplementary data, Fig. S1
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Metabolic modes leading to the accumulation of branched chain amino acids (BCAA) and related amino acids suggested under abiotic stress conditions. a Amino acid synthetic mode. BCAAs are synthesised using pyruvate or oxaloacetate (OAA) as carbon skeletons. b Protein degradation mode. Amino acids resulting from degraded proteins would be direct and indirect electron donors to produce ATP. 2OG 2-oxoglutarate, SDH succinate dehydrogenase, HG hydroxyglutarate, D2HGDH d-2-hydroxyglutarate dehydrogenase, IVDH isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase, ETF electron transfer flavoprotein, ETFQO ETF-ubiquinone oxidoreductase, e − electron
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