Title

Insights into the metabolic responses of two contrasting Tibetan hulless barley genotypes under low nitrogen stress

Authors

Zha Sang^1,2+, Chunbao Yang^1,2+, Hongjun Yuan^1,2, Yulin Wang^1,2, Dunzhu Jabu^1,2, Qijun Xu^1,2*

Affiliation

¹State Key Laboratory of Hulless Barley and Yak Germplasm Resources and Genetic Improvement, Lhasa 850002, China; ²Institute of Agricultural Research, Tibet Academy of Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Sciences, Lhasa 850002, China; ⁺Equal contribution;

Email

Qijun Xu - E-mail: xuqijun_1314@163.com; Zhasang13518948935@taaas.org *Corresponding author: Zha Sang - Zhasang13518948935@taaas.org; Chunbao Yang - Yangchunbaohnb@taaas.org; Hongjun Yuan - Yhjxzls@taaas.org; Yulin Wang - Wangyulin8609@taaas.org; Dunzhu Jabu - Xjtu_dunzhu@taaas.org; Qijun Xu - xuqijun1025@taaas.org

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received December 22, 2019; Revised December 28, 2019; Accepted December 28, 2019; Published December 31, 2019

Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient for plants. However, excessive use of N fertilizer for cultivation is an environmental hazard. A good adaption to N deficiency is known in the Tibetan hulless barley. Therefore, it is of interest to complete the metabolic analysis on LSZQK which is a low nitrogen (low-N) sensitive genotype and Z0284 that is tolerant to low-N. We identified and quantified 750 diverse metabolites in this analysis. The two genotypes show differences in their basal metabolome under normal N condition. Polyphenols and lipids related metabolites were significantly enriched in Z0284 having a basal role prior to exposure to low-N stress. Analysis of the differentially accumulated metabolites (DAM) induced by low-N explain the genotype-specific responses. Fourteen DAMs showed similar patterns of change between low-N and control conditions in both genotypes. This could be the core low-N responsive metabolites regardless of the tolerance level in hulless barley. We also identified 4 DAMs (serotonin, MAG (18:4) isomer 2, tricin 7-O-feruloylhexoside and gluconic acid) shared by both genotypes displaying opposite patterns of regulation under low-N conditions and may play important roles in low-N tolerance. This report provides a theoretical basis for further understanding of the molecular mechanisms of low-N stress tolerance in hulless barley.

Keywords

Tibetan hulless barley; low nitrogen stress; metabolome; polyphenols; glycerolipids

Citation

Sang et al. Bioinformation 15(12): 845-852 (2019)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.