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Plasticity in metabolism underpins local responses to nitrogen in Arabidopsis thaliana populations
(2019)
Nitrogen (N) is central for plant growth, and metabolic plasticity can provide a strategy to respond to changing N availability. We showed that two local A. thaliana populations exhibited differential plasticity in the compounds of photorespiratory and starch degradation pathways in response to three N conditions. Association of metabolite levels with growth-related and fitness traits indicated that controlled plasticity in these pathways could contribute to local adaptation and play a role in plant evolution.
Resource polymorphism is common across taxa and can result in alternate ecotypes with specific morphologies, feeding modes, and behaviors that increase performance in a specific habitat. This can result in high intraspecific variation in the expression of specific traits and the extent to which these traits are correlated within a single population. Although metabolic rate influences resource acquisition and the overall pace of life of individuals it is not clear how metabolic rate interacts with the larger suite of traits to ultimately determine individual fitness. We examined the relationship between metabolic rates and the major differences (habitat use, morphology, and resource use) between littoral and pelagic ecotypes of European perch (Perca fluviatilis) from a single lake in Central Sweden. Standard metabolic rate (SMR) was significantly higher in pelagic perch but did not correlate with resource use or morphology. Maximum metabolic rate (MMR) was not correlated with any of our explanatory variables or with SMR. Aerobic scope (AS) showed the same pattern as SMR, differing across habitats, but contrary to expectations, was lower in pelagic perch. This study helps to establish a framework for future experiments further exploring the drivers of intraspecific differences in metabolism. In addition, since metabolic rates scale with temperature and determine predator energy requirements, our observed differences in SMR across habitats will help determine ecotype-specific vulnerabilities to climate change and differences in top-down predation pressure across habitats.
Plant metabolism serves as the primary mechanism for converting assimilated carbon into essential compounds crucial for plant growth and ultimately, crop yield. This renders it a focal point of research with significant implications. Despite notable strides in comprehending the genetic principles underpinning metabolism and yield, there remains a dearth of knowledge regarding the genetic factors responsible for trait variation under varying environmental conditions. Given the burgeoning global population and the advancing challenges posed by climate change, unraveling the intricacies of metabolic and yield responses to water scarcity became increasingly important in safeguarding food security.
Our research group has recently started to work on the genetic resources of legume species. To this end, the study presented here investigates the metabolic diversity across five different legume species at a tissue level, identifying species-specific biosynthesis of alkaloids as well as iso-/flavonoids with diverse functional groups, namely prenylation, phenylacylation as well as methoxylation, to create a resource for follow up studies investigation the metabolic diversity in natural diverse populations of legume species.
Following this, the second study investigates the genetic architecture of drought-induced changes in a global common bean population. Here, a plethora of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with various traits are identified by performing genome-wide association studies (GWAS), including for lipid signaling. On this site, overexpression of candidates highlighted the induction of several oxylipins reported to be pivotal in coping with harsh environmental conditions such as water scarcity.
Diverging from the common bean and GWAS, the following study focuses on identifying drought-related QTL in tomato using a bi-parental breeding population. This descriptive study highlights novel multi-omic QTL, including metabolism, photosynthesis as well as fruit setting, some of which are uniquely assigned under drought. Compared to conventional approaches using the bi-parental IL population, the study presented improves the resolution by assessing further backcrossed ILs, named sub-ILs.
In the final study, a photosynthetic gene, namely a PetM subunit of the cytochrome b6f complex encoding gene, involved in electron flow is characterized in an horticultural important crop. While several advances have been made in model organisms, this study highlights the transition of this fundamental knowledge to horticultural important crops, such as tomato, and investigates its function under differing light conditions. Overall, the presented thesis combines different strategies in unveiling the genetic components in multi-omic traits under drought using conventional breeding populations as well as a diverse global population. To this end, it allows a comparison of either approach and highlights their strengths and weaknesses.