Metabolomic Analysis of Wheat Grains after Tilletia laevis Kühn Infection by Using Ultrahigh-Performance Liquid Chromatography–Q-Exactive Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Tilletia laevis causes common bunt disease in wheat, with severe losses of production yield and seed quality. Metabolomics studies provide detailed information about the biochemical changes at the cell and tissue level of the plants. Ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography–Q-exactive mass spectrometry (UPLC-QE-MS) was used to examine the changes in wheat grains after T. laevis infection. PCA analysis suggested that T. laevis-infected and non-infected samples were scattered separately during the interaction. In total, 224 organic acids and their derivatives, 170 organoheterocyclic compounds, 128 lipids and lipid-like molecules, 85 organic nitrogen compounds, 64 benzenoids, 31 phenylpropanoids and polyketides, 21 nucleosides, nucleotides, their analogues, and 10 alkaloids and derivatives were altered in hyphal-infected grains. According to The Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and genomes analysis, the protein digestion and absorption, biosynthesis of amino acids, arginine and proline metabolism, vitamin digestion and absorption, and glycine, serine, and threonine metabolism pathways were activated in wheat crops after T. laevis infection.

Rice-Magnaporthe oryzae interactions in resistant and susceptible rice cultivars under panicle blast infection based on defense-related enzyme activities and metabolomics

“…Metabolites produced by plants are known to play important roles in plant defense responses against both biotic and abiotic stresses [13]. Recent progress in metabolomics has enabled detailed information about biochemical changes occurring at cellular and tissue levels in plants to be obtained and applied in the study of the interactions between plants and pathogens [14][15][16][17]. For example, certain metabolites have been identified and employed as resistance biomarkers in a range of plants, including tomatoes [18], soybean [19], grapes [20] and rice [13], infected by various species of phytopathogens.…”