Deciphering the major metabolic pathways associated with aluminum tolerance in popcorn roots using label-free quantitative proteomics

Abstract

Aluminum toxicity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that affect crop production worldwide. The soluble form (Al 3+ ) inhibits root growth by altering water and nutrients uptake, which also reduces plant growth and development. Under a long term Al 3+ exposure, plants can activate several tolerance mechanisms, and to date, there are no reports of large-scale proteomic data of maize in response to this ion. To investigate the posttranscriptional regulation in response to Al toxicity, we performed a label-free quantitative proteomics for comparative analysis of two Al-contrasting popcorn inbred lines and an Al-tolerant commercial hybrid during 72 h under Al-stress. A total of 489 differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) were identified in the Alsensitive inbred line, 491 in the Al-tolerant inbred line, and 277 in the commercial hybrid. Among them, 120 DAPs were co-expressed in both Al tolerant genotypes. Bioinformatics analysis indicated that starch and sucrose metabolism, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis, and carbohydrate metabolism were significant biochemical processes regulated in response to Al toxicity. The up accumulation of sucrose synthase and the increase of sucrose content and starch degradation suggest that these components may enhance popcorn tolerance to Al stress. The up-accumulation of citrate synthase suggests a key role of this enzyme in the detoxification process in the Al-tolerant inbred line. The integration of transcriptomic and proteomic data indicated that the Al tolerance response presents a complex regulatory network into the transcription and translation dynamics of popcorn roots development.

Multi‐omics analysis identifies EcCS4 is negatively regulated in response to phytotoxin isovaleric acid stress in Echinochloa crus‐galli

“…CSs are known to respond to abiotic stress 30,31 . For example, a combination of transcriptomic and proteomic data indicated that CS is a key detoxification enzyme for aluminum toxicity in a tolerant maize line 32 . In our study, under 0.45 μM ISA exposure, each of the three OECS4 lines (OECS4‐4, 8, 11) showed weak growth compared to WT (Fig.…”

Coordinated Regulation of Central Carbon Metabolism in Pyroligneous Acid-Treated Tomato Plants under Aluminum Stress

“…Studies have shown that Al stress leads to energy deprivation in plant growth and development. As a result, tolerant plants accumulate high levels of glucose to produce adequate ATP through glycolysis [ 12 , 13 , 44 ]. For instance, in Al-tolerant rice, Wang et al [ 14 ] showed that glycolytic pathway proteins are enhanced, which could maintain basic respiration needs and/or generate ATP for Al stress tolerance.…”

“…Similarly, the total TCA cycle metabolites had a weak positive correlation with the total ETC metabolites. The increase in glycolytic flux under Al stress proved that carbon skeletons produced via glycolysis are used primarily for OA production to detoxify Al ions, thereby promoting Al tolerance [13,50,51]. Although some of the total metabolites showed a non-significant (p > 0.05) weak correlation with other metabolites, the CBC, glycolysis and PPP shared common metabolites which showed significant (p < 0.05) associations (Figure 5; Table S2).…”

“…The CCM pathway supplies the fundamental carbon needed to sustain growth and productivity under stress conditions and comprises the Calvin–Benson cycle (CBC), glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, followed by oxidative phosphorylation for ATP production through the electron transport chain (ETC) [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Recently, several studies have demonstrated that Al stress alters metabolic profiles in plant, which may enhance Al tolerance [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Although most of these studies have focused on the root metabolism of Al tolerance, the effects of Al stress on metabolic changes in aerial parts or plants are poorly understood.…”

Label-free quantitative proteomics of arbuscular mycorrhizal Elaeagnus angustifolia seedlings provides insights into salt-stress tolerance mechanisms

“…Label-free quantitative (LFQ) proteomics is an effective method for studying the proteome, which is helpful to explore the molecular mechanism of abiotic stresses tolerance. In the past few years, LFQ proteomic analysis have been applied to reveal the response mechanisms of plant roots to abiotic stresses, including flooding, drought, heavy metal, and low N ( Nanjo et al., 2013 ; Xin et al., 2016 ; Jozefowicz et al., 2017 ; Borges et al., 2019 ; Pinto et al., 2021 ).…”