Plant metabolomics and its potential application for human nutrition

Abstract

With the growing interest in the use of metabolomic technologies for a wide range of biological targets, food applications related to nutrition and quality are rapidly emerging. Metabolomics offers us the opportunity to gain deeper insights into, and have better control of, the fundamental biochemical basis of the things we eat. So doing will help us to design modified breeding programmes aimed at better quality produce; optimised food processing strategies and ultimately, improved (micro)nutrient bioavailability and bioefficacy. A better understanding of the pathways responsible for the biosynthesis of nutritionally relevant metabolites is key to gaining more effective control of the absence/level of presence of such components in our food. Applications of metabolomic technologies in both applied and fundamental science strategies are therefore growing rapidly in popularity. Currently, the world has two highly contrasting nutrition-related problems--over-consumption and under-nourishment. Dramatic increases in the occurrence of overweight individuals and obesity in developed countries are in staggering contrast to the still-familiar images of extreme malnutrition in many parts of the developing world. Both problems require a modified food supply, achieved through highly contrasting routes. For each, metabolomics has a future role to play and this review shall deal with this key dichotomy and illustrate where metabolomics may have a future part to play. In this short overview, attention is given to how the various technologies have already been exploited in a plant-based food context related to key issues such as biofortification, bioprotectants and the general link between food composition and human health. Research on key crops such as rice and tomato are used as illustration of potentially broader application across crop species. Although the focus is clearly on food supply, some attention is given to the complementary field of research, nutrigenomics, where similar technologies are being applied to understand nutrition better from the human side.

Metabolic Profiling of Phloem Exudates as a Tool to Improve Bread-Wheat Cultivars

“…Since the development of the wheat grain depends on the supply of nutrients in the phloem [1], such measurements could potentially also provide insights into aspects such as N use efficiency. The identification of biochemical markers useful for discriminatory purposes and for selecting combinations of good quality, high yield, and good tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses appears feasible [2]. Metabolic profiling has been used to distinguish between leaf and fruit extracts of species and cultivars of tomato and examine the effects of N on metabolism in these organs [3][4][5].…”

Nutritionally Improved Agricultural Crops

“…Through advances in proteomics and glycomics, we are beginning to quantify simultaneously the levels of many individual proteins and to follow posttranslational alterations that occur in pathways. Ever more sophisticated metabolomic tools and analysis systems allow the study of both primary and secondary metabolic pathways in an integrated fashion (Hall et al, 2008). However, the increasing sophistication of this tool also demonstrates some anomalies in relying on this approach.…”

“…The quality of crop plants, nutritionally or otherwise, is a direct function of this metabolite content (Memelink, 2004). This brings metabolomic approaches front and center both in better understanding what has occurred during crop domestication (lost and silenced traits) and in designing new paradigms for more targeted crop improvement that are better tailored to current needs (Hall et al, 2008). In addition, of course, with modern techniques we have the potential to trawl the rest of that biochemical treasure trove to find and introgress traits of value that were outside the scope of previous breeding strategies.…”

Stimulatory Effect of Hormones, Vitamin C on Growth, Yield and Some Metabolic Activities of Chenopodium quinoa Plants in Egypt

“…In this regard, the effects of spray of phytohormones, such as Gibberellic acid (GAs), Jasmonic acid (JA) are plant hormones but GAs have many different chemical forms [14,15].…”