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A core set of metabolite sink/source ratios indicative for plant organ productivity in Lotus japonicus

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Abstract

Plant growth is an important process in physiological as well as ecological respect and a number of metabolic parameters (elemental ratios as well as steady-state levels of individual metabolites) have been demonstrated to reflect this process on the whole plant level. Since plant growth is highly localized and is the result of a complex interplay of metabolic activities in sink and source organs, we propose that ratios in metabolite levels of sink and source organs are particularly well suited to characterize this process. To demonstrate such a connection, we studied organ-specific metabolite ratios from Lotus japonicus treated with mineral nutrients, salt stress or arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The plants were displaying a wide range of biomass and of flower/biomass ratios. In the analysis of our data we looked for correlations between shifts in sink/source metabolite ratios and plant productivity (biomass accumulated at the time of harvest). In addition we correlated shifts in metabolite ratios comparing competing generative and vegetative sink organs with shifts in productivity of the two organs (changes in flower/biomass ratios). In our analyses we observed clear shifts of carbohydrates and of compounds connected to nitrogen metabolism in favour of sink organs of particularly high productivity. These shifts were in agreement with general differences in metabolite steady-state levels when comparing sink and source organs. Our findings suggest that differentiation of sink and source organs during sampling for metabolomic experiments substantially increases the amount of information obtained from such experiments.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Elke Häusler and Angelika Wichmann for excellent technical assistance and our colleagues from the “Versuchstation Bad Lauchstädt” for plant cultivation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    Thomas Fester, Ingo Fetzer & Claus Härtig

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  1. Thomas Fester
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  2. Ingo Fetzer
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  3. Claus Härtig
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Fester.

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Fig. S1 PCAs of sink/source- and flower/source metabolite ratios from experiment I, II and III. Fertilized plants are separated from all other plants along the first component. The remaining treatments (control, salt stress, mycorrhization) are separated from each other in varying order and to varying degree along the second component. The amount of variation explained by each PC is given in brackets in axes’ labels. Corresponding PLS-DAs are given in Fig. 4.

Fig. S2 Metabolite partitioning between competing sink organs. PCA of flower/sink metabolite ratios in experiment I (orange), II (blue), and III (green). The position of the mean of each group is indicated by a filled symbol. Filled stars represent the location of the mean of all samples belonging to a particular experiment. The amount of variation explained by each PC is given in brackets in axes’ labels. A corresponding PLS-DA is given in Fig. 6.

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Fester, T., Fetzer, I. & Härtig, C. A core set of metabolite sink/source ratios indicative for plant organ productivity in Lotus japonicus . Planta 237, 145–160 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-012-1759-y

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