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Plant and Cell Physiology Advance Access published online on March 15, 2008
Plant and Cell Physiology, doi:10.1093/pcp/pcn044
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists (JSPP) 2008

Metabolite profiling reveals distinct changes in carbon and nitrogen metabolism in phosphate-deficient barley plants (Hordeum vulgare L.)

Chun Y. Huang1,*, Ute Roessner2, Ira Eickmeier3, Yusuf Genc4, Damien L. Callahan5, Neil Shirley1, Peter Langridge1 and Antony Bacic2

1 Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, PMB1, Glen Osmond, South Australia, 5064, Australia
2 Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia
3 Max-Planck-Institute für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14 476 Golm, Germany
4 Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre, The University of Adelaide, South Australia, 5005, Australia
5 Metabolomics Australia, School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia

*Corresponding author: Dr. Chun Y. Huang, Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics, The University of Adelaide, Waite Campus PMB1, Glen Osmond, South Australia, 5064, Australia, Tel: +61 8 8303 7160, FAX: +61 8 8303 7102, Email: chunyuan.huang{at}adelaide.edu.au


  Abstract

Plants modify metabolic processes for adaptation to low phosphate (P) conditions. Whilst transcriptomic analyses show that P deficiency changes hundreds of genes related to various metabolic processes, there is limited information available for global metabolite changes of P-deficient plants, especially for cereals. As changes in metabolites are the ultimate "readout" of changes in gene expression, we profiled polar metabolites from both shoots and roots of P-deficient barley (Hordeum vulgare) using GC-MS. Results showed that mildly P-deficient plants accumulated di- and tri-saccharides (sucrose, maltose, raffinose and 6-kestose), especially in shoots. Severe P-deficiency increased the levels of metabolites related to ammonium metabolism in addition to di- and tri-saccharides, but reduced the levels of phosphorylated intermediates (glucose-6-P, fructose-6-P, inositol-1-P, and glycerol-3-P) and organic acids ({alpha}-ketoglutarate, succinate, fumarate and malate). The results revealed that P-deficient plants modify carbohydrate metabolism initially to reduce P consumption, and salvage P from small P-containing metabolites when P deficiency is severe, which consequently reduced levels of organic acids in the TCA cycle. The extent of the effect of severe P deficiency on ammonium metabolism was also revealed by LC-MS quantitative analysis of free amino acids. A sharp increase in the concentrations of glutamine and asparagine was observed in both shoots and roots of severely P-deficient plants. Based on these data a strategy for improving the ability of cereals to adapt to low P environments is proposed that involves alteration in partitioning of carbohydrates into organic acids and amino acids to enable more efficient utilization of carbon in P-deficient plants.

Keywords: Ammonium, barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) - carbohydrate - metabolite profile - phosphate deficiency

(Received February 21, 2008; Accepted March 13, 2008)
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