Abstract
BackgroundIncreased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels predicted to occur before the end of the century will impact plant metabolism. In addition, nitrate availability will affect metabolism and levels of nitrogen-containing defense compounds, such as glucosinolates (GSLs). We compared Arabidopsis foliar metabolic profile in plants grown under two CO2 regimes (440 vs 880 ppm), nitrate fertilization (1 mM vs 10 mM) and in response to mechanical damage of rosette leaves.ResultsConstitutive foliar metabolites in nitrate-limited plants show distinct global patterns depending on atmospheric CO2 levels; in contrast, plants grown under higher nitrate fertilization under elevated atmospheric CO2 conditions have a unique metabolite signature. Nitrate fertilization dampens the jasmonate burst in response to wounding in plants grown at elevated CO2 levels. Leaf GSL profile mirrors the jasmonate burst; in particular, indole GSLs increase in response to damage in plants grown at ambient CO2 but only in nitrate-limited plants grown under elevated CO2 conditions.ConclusionsThis may reflect a reduced capacity of C3 plants grown under enriched CO2 and nitrate levels to signal changes in oxidative stress and has implications for future agricultural management practices.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12870-016-0752-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels predicted to occur before the end of the century will impact plant metabolism
Global changes in Arabidopsis foliar metabolite profile In Arabidopsis, the constitutive foliar metabolite profile of plants grown at lower nitrate fertilization levels (1 mM) strongly reflects atmospheric CO2 levels (Fig. 1a, c, e, Additional file 5: Figure S2)
At elevated CO2 levels, the strong difference in induced metabolite profile observed in plants fertilized with 1 mM nitrate is not as pronounced in plants fertilized with the higher nitrate level (Fig. 1d, Additional file 5: Figure S2)
Summary
Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels predicted to occur before the end of the century will impact plant metabolism. Plant specialized metabolites involved in protection against insect herbivores can function as feeding deterrents, antinutritive factors or toxins to protect plant tissues or act as cues to attract natural enemies of plant pests [2] Synthesizing and maintaining these defense metabolites, such as glucosinolates (GSLs), is costly and plants must efficiently balance the trade-off between growth and defense [3,4,5]. The recent availability of unbiased metabolite profiling to simultaneously measure hundreds of metabolites in plant tissues combined with analysis of underlying metabolic pathways are valuable tools to evaluate metabolic shifts in response to changing environmental conditions to determine the potential impact of nutrient availability on plant defenses [5, 9]. Rosette leaves were wounded and changes in metabolite profile were monitored
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