An Appraisal on the Source-to-Sink Relationship in Plants: an Application of Desorption Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Abstract

Amino acids/ureides and carbohydrates are the main nutrients for the plants growth. These metabolites are continuously translocated through the plant organism via well-known transportation mechanisms. The well-established source-to-sink relationship involves the transfer of these nutrients from mature (source) to young (sink) leaves. Desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging (DESI-MSI) is used herein to determine the spatial distribution of amino acids/ureides and carbohydrates in the imprintings of Mentha × piperita L. leaves at three distinct maturation stages: young, expanding, and mature. Hence, chemical images of some typical carbohydrates (glucose, sucrose, sorbitol/mannitol) and free amino acids/ureides (phenylalanine, leucine, histidine, aspartate, asparagine, tyrosine, glutamate, allantoic acid) clearly point to a source-tosink relationship, as the young leaves are the final destination for some of these key metabolites. These results therefore reveal the high potential of DESI-MSI to investigate biochemical processes in plants, a still underexplored area.

Age-Dependent Metabolic Profiles Unravel the Metabolic Relationships within and between Flax Leaves (Linum usitatissimum)

“…As expected, this physiological subdivision was in line with the distribution of the metabolites in the leaves. In fact, at each developmental stage leaf metabolome is the result of both the different degree of activation of the metabolic pathways and the metabolic fluxes between leaves [20]. In general, primary metabolites tended to be more concentrated in younger leaves, to support growth [21], in agreement with previous studies [22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Omics: The way forward to enhance abiotic stress tolerance inBrassica napusL

“…Furthermore, for the exact confirmation of these 28 proteins, MALDI-TOF/TOF MS has been used and recognized 21 proteins. 163 2-DGE was used for comparative proteomic analysis of thermos-sensitive genic male sterility genotypes of rapeseed during microspore and microsporocyte formation. MALDI-TOF MS has identified 28 protein, from which ten protein expressed during microsporocyte while the remaining 18 protein expressed in the microspore phase.…”

Exploitation of Drought Tolerance-Related Genes for Crop Improvement

“…A series of techniques based on mass spectrometry (MS) are used for the proteomic analysis, such as gas chromatography MS (GC-MS), liquid chromatography MS (LC-MS), electrospray ionization (ESI), matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization with a time-of-flight analyzer (MALDI-TOF), and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ) [ 45 ]. Using these techniques, not only the protein type and abundance can be detected but, also, protein modifications such as phosphorylation and ubiquitination can be analyzed.…”