Unravelling the Complex Networks Involved in Plant Stress Tolerance Through Metabolomics

Abstract

Plants undergo a variety of molecular cascades in response to the external stimuli that affect the metabolome as a whole, resulting in activation of some specialized compounds called metabolites which help them to acclimatize to the changing environment. The study of these metabolites has led to the discovery of metabolomics which is defined as the comprehensive, qualitative and quantitative profiling of all the small molecules in cells, tissues or whole organisms at a specific point of time. It is bridging the gap between genotype and phenotype by providing a more comprehensive view of how cells function, as well as identifying novel or striking changes in specific metabolites. Currently, metabolomics research is being applied to myriad different uses, from plant science (in studies relating to biomass accumulation, environmental stress resistance and secondary metabolite production) to medicine. Metabolomics has contributed significantly not only to the understanding of plant physiology and biology from the view of small chemical molecules that reflect the end point of biological activities but also to the attempts to improve plant behaviour under both normal and stressed conditions during past decades. Recently, metabolomics has been proposed as a complementary approach to the genomics-assisted selection for crop improvement and a few methylation quantitative trait loci (mQTLs) have already been identified in Arabidopsis, tomato and Populus.