Application of Metabolomic Analysis in Exploration of Plant Genetic Resources

Abstract

The article addresses the issues of using metabolomic analysis to study genetic resources of cereal crops in order to (1) determine phylogenetic linkages between species (the degree of domestication); (2) within species to describe genetic diversity according to its responses to biotic and abiotic stressors and biochemical characteristics (chemical compounds) determining food, feed and technological quality indicators; and (3) select the most resistant and highest-quality geno-types for complex breeding use.

Wheat, Barley, and Oat Breeding for Health Benefit Components in Grain

“…showed that the range of variability in the metabolomic profile of improved cultivars was significantly narrower than that of wild species. Metabolites, the content of which may have been reduced in the process of domestication and breeding in comparison to wild oats, are identified [2]. Presumably, it might be connected with the selection during oat domestication and a decline of metabolome diversity while "domestication syndrome" traits were shaped [119].…”

“…Presumably, it might be connected with the selection during oat domestication and a decline of metabolome diversity while "domestication syndrome" traits were shaped [119]. The diversity of metabolomic profiles may be lost in the process of selection when highly specialized singleline intensive-type cultivars are developed because this process is always accompanied by a decrease in genetic polymorphism in a breeding object compared with the metagenome of numerous ecotypes, local varieties, and natural races of dozens of wild species [2,119]. A study of naked and hulled oat forms disclosed differences in their metabolites, which serves as an additional justification of the differentiation between these subspecies of common oat [2].…”

“…The diversity of metabolomic profiles may be lost in the process of selection when highly specialized singleline intensive-type cultivars are developed because this process is always accompanied by a decrease in genetic polymorphism in a breeding object compared with the metagenome of numerous ecotypes, local varieties, and natural races of dozens of wild species [2,119]. A study of naked and hulled oat forms disclosed differences in their metabolites, which serves as an additional justification of the differentiation between these subspecies of common oat [2]. Landraces, which are plant varieties selected and grown regionally but not officially tested and released as registered varieties, are a source of special genetic characteristics derived by (many years of) adaptation to the respective territory.…”

“…The general breeding trend of the past decades, however, was finding solutions to the problem of higher yields in cereal crops; furthermore, special attention was paid in many countries to increasing plant resistance against diseases and various abiotic stressors. The concentration of all efforts on these two targets and none other resulted in a certain decline in the genetic diversity in those plant characters that are associated with the biochemical composition of cereal grain [2]. In the last few years, cereal crop breeding generated a trend aimed at combining high biochemical and agronomic parameters in one cultivar [3][4][5].…”

Different “metabolomic niches” of the highly diverse tree species of the French Guiana rainforests

“…The classical way to estimate this functional niche is to focus on morphological and functional traits linked to the species strategy that are easier to measure in the field conditions (such as specific leaf area, foliar toughness, …). Numerous studies have combined this conceptual framework with functional foliar traits measurements to explain species coexistence, niche overlap level and thus the competition intensity [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] .…”