Elias K Mibei1, Willis O Owino1, Jane Ambuko2, James J Giovannoni3, Arnold N Onyango1. 1. Department of Food Science and Technology, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya. 2. Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya. 3. USDA-ARS Robert W Holley Center and Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Drought stress is one of the main abiotic stresses that affect crops. It leads to biochemical changes that can have adverse effects on plant growth, development and productivity. African eggplants are important vegetable and fruit crops reported to adapt and thrive well under drought stress. The diversified metabolites arising due to stress have not been well defined. A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric metabolomic approach was applied to characterize the effect of drought stress on metabolites at different stages of growth. Nineteen accessions were selected for analysis and drought was imposed by withholding water until soil moisture reached 60% field capacity. Fresh leaf tissues were sampled before stress, 2 and 4 weeks after stress and metabolite profiling done. RESULTS: Significant changes in metabolite content were observed, and potentially important metabolites with respect to stress responses were characterized. Proline, glutamate, sucrose, fructose and tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites were shown to be positively correlated with stress. Principal component analysis showed a clear discrimination between the different accessions, growth stages and stress/control conditions. CONCLUSION: The results illustrate that drought stress has a significant impact on the concentrations of some metabolites, such as amino acids, sugars and organic acids, which may contribute to drought stress effects and tolerance.
BACKGROUND: Drought stress is one of the main abiotic stresses that affect crops. It leads to biochemical changes that can have adverse effects on plant growth, development and productivity. African eggplants are important vegetable and fruit crops reported to adapt and thrive well under drought stress. The diversified metabolites arising due to stress have not been well defined. A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric metabolomic approach was applied to characterize the effect of drought stress on metabolites at different stages of growth. Nineteen accessions were selected for analysis and drought was imposed by withholding water until soil moisture reached 60% field capacity. Fresh leaf tissues were sampled before stress, 2 and 4 weeks after stress and metabolite profiling done. RESULTS: Significant changes in metabolite content were observed, and potentially important metabolites with respect to stress responses were characterized. Proline, glutamate, sucrose, fructose and tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolites were shown to be positively correlated with stress. Principal component analysis showed a clear discrimination between the different accessions, growth stages and stress/control conditions. CONCLUSION: The results illustrate that drought stress has a significant impact on the concentrations of some metabolites, such as amino acids, sugars and organic acids, which may contribute to drought stress effects and tolerance.
Authors: Antonio Mauceri; Meriem Miyassa Aci; Laura Toppino; Sayantan Panda; Sagit Meir; Francesco Mercati; Fabrizio Araniti; Antonio Lupini; Maria Rosaria Panuccio; Giuseppe Leonardo Rotino; Asaph Aharoni; Maria Rosa Abenavoli; Francesco Sunseri Journal: Plants (Basel) Date: 2022-03-04