Radomiljac, J.D.; Whelan, J.; van der Merwe, M. Coordinating Metabolite Changes with Our Perception of Plant Abiotic Stress Responses: Emerging Views Revealed by Integrative—Omic Analyses. Metabolites 2013, 3, 761-786.
Abstract
Metabolic configuration and adaptation under a range of abiotic stresses, including drought, heat, salinity, cold, and nutrient deprivation, are subjected to an intricate span of molecular pathways that work in parallel in order to enhance plant fitness and increase stress tolerance. In recent years, unprecedented advances have been made in identifying and linking different abiotic stresses, and the current challenge in plant molecular biology is deciphering how the signaling responses are integrated and transduced throughout metabolism. Metabolomics have often played a fundamental role in elucidating the distinct and overlapping biochemical changes that occur in plants. However, a far greater understanding and appreciation of the complexity in plant metabolism under specific stress conditions have become apparent when combining metabolomics with other—omic platforms. This review focuses on recent advances made in understanding the global changes occurring in plant metabolism under abiotic stress conditions using metabolite profiling as an integrated discovery platform.
Conclusions
Metabolomics has taught us a great deal about the diversity in and dynamics of systems driven biological approaches during abiotic stresses. Ranging from osmoprotectants to allosteric regulators of protein properties, as well as direct interactors and modulators of DNA and RNA structures to alter nuclear gene expression, small molecules and the study thereof (metabolomics) have illustrated that, in combination with other –omic datasets, metabolites, proteins, and transcripts do not always “play by the rules of the game”. While it challenges us to shift our assumptions and interpretation of metabolic changes in terms of how we think metabolism operates, it also greatly attests to the complexity within biological systems. Our current understanding of data structure relationships (particularly transcript-metabolite or metabolite-metabolite comparisons), and resulting hierarchical regulation structures, have been significantly improved by addressing metabolomics driven questions by careful designing experiments that will aid in understanding the complexity and regulation mechanisms during abiotic stresses. Plant metabolomics has taught us that, while metabolomics is a powerful tool to understand specific abiotic stresses (and even how these stresses overlap), we need the integration of other platforms or genetic variability in order to understand and integrate from what we measure to what the relevant molecular context is of these metabolic changes. However, metabolomics as a standalone entity will still provide valuable information regarding the identification of uncharacterized metabolites and/or derivatives, greater quantification of metabolites on both tissue specific and subcellular levels, as well as the dynamic movement of soluble metabolites between cells and tissues, especially upon a range of stresses. In conclusion, metabolomics is a crucial link to decipher the molecular functional mechanisms(s) underlying specific abiotic stress responses.
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