Comparative metabolome analysis of the salt response in breeding cultivars of rice

Abstract

Metabolomics aims for comprehensive analysis of the metabolic complement. The metabolic phenotype is typically described by changes in metabolic pool sizes. Today investigations are technologically limited to a few hundred metabolites. Metabolomics studies are typically restricted to a single analytical technology, such as GC-TOF-MS which will be the focus technology of this chapter. Two strategies for data analysis are applied. Metabolite fingerprinting investigates all analytical signals. Metabolite profiling considers only information which represents known metabolites. In the last 8-10 years functional metabolome analysis has passed from concept discussion, method development and feasibility assessment into a phase of method automation and increased scope of applications for enhanced hypothesis generation. It is, however, still an early time for lessons to be learned from high-throughput metabolome analyses. This chapter attempts to exemplify the potential of metabolome analysis for the screening of genetic diversity selected by breeding. This diversity is a widely recognized but also a hard to investigate biological resource. In land races, selection has lead to successful adaptation, for example towards environmental stress tolerance. However, the underlying genomic changes remain elusive. Metabolic phenotyping analysis may circumvent the problem by identifying metabolic markers for a targeted selection. Ultimately metabolic profiling may allow an initial functional insight into metabolic modes of tolerance acquisition without prior knowledge of genomic modifications © 2007 Springer.