The Ionomic Study of Vegetable Crops

Abstract

Soil contains various essential and nonessential elements, all of which can be absorbed by plants. Plant ionomics is the study of the accumulation of these elements (the ionome) in plants. The ionomic profile of a plant is affected by various factors, including species, variety, organ, and environment. In this study, we cultivated various vegetable crop species and cultivars under the same field conditions and analyzed the level of accumulation of each element in the edible and nonedible parts using ionomic techniques. The concentration of each element in the edible parts differed between species, which could be partly explained by differences in the types of edible organs (root, leaf, seed, and fruit). For example, the calcium concentration was lower in seeds and fruit than in other organs because of the higher dependency of calcium accumulation on xylem transfer. The concentration of several essential microelements and nonessential elements in the edible parts also varied greatly between cultivars of the same species, knowledge of which will help in the breeding of vegetables that are biofortified or contain lower concentrations of toxic elements. Comparison of the ionomes of the fruit and leaves of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and eggplant (S. melongena) indicated that cadmium and boron had higher levels of accumulation in eggplant fruit, likely because of their effective transport in the phloem. We also found that homologous elements that have been reported to share the same uptake/transport system often showed significant correlation only in a few families and that the slopes of these relationships differed between families. Therefore, these differences in the characteristics of mineral accumulation are likely to affect the ionomic profiles of different families.

Variation in the angiosperm ionome

“…The ionome of a particular plant, organ, tissue, cell or subcellular structure is affected by the phytoavailability of elements in the environment, transport processes into and within the plant, plant metabolism and the requirements of specific extracellular and intracellular structures (White and Brown , Baxter ). The ionome differs between plant species growing in the same environment (Broadley et al , White et al , Watanabe et al ), organs, tissues and cells of an individual plant (Sorreano , Cakmak et al , Conn and Gilliham , Subramanian et al , Baxter et al , Eggert and von Wirén , Zhao et al , He et al , Persson et al , Thomas et al , Watanabe et al , de la Fuente et al , White and Pongrac ) and extracellular and intracellular compartments (Sterner and Elser , Hawkesford et al , Broadley et al , , White et al ). Ultimately, differences in the ionomes of plants growing under identical conditions reflect differences in their genomes and gene expression that have evolved through mutation and the selection of adapted phenotypes.…”

“…The ionome is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. et al 2012b, Watanabe et al 2016), organs, tissues and cells of an individual plant (Sorreano 2006, Cakmak et al 2010, Conn and Gilliham 2010, Subramanian et al 2011, Baxter et al 2012, Eggert and von Wirén 2013, Zhao et al 2014, He et al 2016, Persson et al 2016, Thomas et al 2016, Watanabe et al 2016, de la Fuente et al 2017, White and Pongrac 2017 and extracellular and intracellular compartments (Sterner and Elser 2002, Hawkesford et al 2012, White et al 2018. Ultimately, differences in the ionomes of plants growing under identical conditions reflect differences in their genomes and gene expression that have evolved through mutation and the selection of adapted phenotypes.…”

The influence of phylogeny and ecology on root, shoot and plant ionomes of 14 native Brazilian species

“…The partitioning of an individual mineral nutrient within a plant is determined by its relative fluxes between roots, stems, leaves and reproductive organs. Ionomes differ between organs (Watanabe et al ), between cells (Conn and Gilliham ) and between cell compartments (Becker , White et al ). Ionomes of different plant species, grown in the same environment, differ from each other due to genetic factors (Broadley et al , White et al , Watanabe et al , Neugebauer et al ).…”

Metabolomics and Ionomics of Potato Tuber Reveals an Influence of Cultivar and Market Class on Human Nutrients and Bioactive Compounds

“…Several studies have shown an influence of plant genotype on metabolite content of foods, including wheat (phenolics and sterols) ( 69 ) and rice (phenolics, tocopherols, phytosterols, fatty acids) ( 55 ). Other studies have evaluated how plant genetics lead to differences in mineral content of vegetable crops (essential minerals) ( 68 ), rice (Ca, Cu, K, Na, Zn) ( 70 ), maize ( 71 , 72 ), soybean ( 73 ), and sorghum ( 74 ), were evaluated to identify genetic loci associated to content of up to 19 minerals.…”