Abstract
Membrane lipid modulation is one of the major strategies plants have developed for cold acclimation. In this study, a combined lipidomic and transcriptomic analysis was conducted, and the changes in glycerolipids contents and species, and transcriptional regulation of lipid metabolism in maize leaves under low temperature treatment (5°C) were investigated. The lipidomic analysis showed an increase in the phospholipid phosphatidic acid (PA) and a decrease in phosphatidylcholine (PC). And an increase in digalactosyldiacylglycerol and a decrease in monogalactosyldiacylglycerol of the galactolipid class. The results implied an enhanced turnover of PC to PA to serve as precursors for galactolipid synthesis under following low temperature treatment. The analysis of changes in abundance of various lipid molecular species suggested major alterations of different pathways of plastidic lipids synthesis in maize under cold treatment. The synchronous transcriptomic analysis revealed that genes involved in phospholipid and galactolipid synthesis pathways were significantly up-regulated, and a comprehensive gene-metabolite network was generated illustrating activated membrane lipids adjustment in maize leaves following cold treatment. This study will help to understand the regulation of glycerolipids metabolism at both biochemical and molecular biological levels in 18:3 plants and to decipher the roles played by lipid remodeling in cold response in major field crop maize.
Highlights
Low temperature is a major abiotic stress plants are frequently exposed to, which severely affects plant growth and productivity (Mahfoozia et al, 2006; Sandve et al, 2011)
While in other category, such as peas, wheat, and maize, the synthesis of plastidic lipids almost completely depends on the eukaryotic pathway, and the product of this process contains a large amount of 18:3 fatty acids, resulting dominating C36:6 in their MGDG and DGDG, they are called 18:3 plants (Heinz and Roughan, 1983; Browse et al, 1986; Lohden and Frentzen, 1988; Ohlrogge and Browse, 1995)
Under low temperature (5◦C), the level of DGDG increased, whereas the level of MGDG and sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol (SQDG) declined in comparison to control (22◦C)
Summary
Low temperature is a major abiotic stress plants are frequently exposed to, which severely affects plant growth and productivity (Mahfoozia et al, 2006; Sandve et al, 2011). Due to the specificity of the acyltransferases, the galactolipids produced by the prokaryotic pathway in the chloroplast carry C16 fatty acids at the second acyl (sn-2) position, whereas the eukaryotic pathway produces galactolipids with only C18 fatty acid at the second acyl (sn-2) position (Ohlrogge and Browse, 1995) In some plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and spinach, the main chloroplast lipids (glyceroglycolipid MGDG and DGDG) are produced by the prokaryotic pathway and eukaryotic pathway together. While in other category, such as peas, wheat, and maize, the synthesis of plastidic lipids almost completely depends on the eukaryotic pathway, and the product of this process contains a large amount of 18:3 fatty acids, resulting dominating C36:6 in their MGDG and DGDG, they are called 18:3 plants (Heinz and Roughan, 1983; Browse et al, 1986; Lohden and Frentzen, 1988; Ohlrogge and Browse, 1995)
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