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Metabolic changes in primary, secondary, and lipid metabolism in tobacco leaf in response to topping

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Abstract

As an important cultivation practice used for flue-cured tobacco, topping affects diverse biological processes in the later stages of development and growth. Some studies have focused on using tobacco genes to reflect the physiological changes caused by topping. However, the complex metabolic shifts in the leaf resulting from topping have not yet been investigated in detail. In this study, a comprehensive metabolic profile of primary, secondary, and lipid metabolism in flue-cured tobacco leaf was generated with use of a multiple platform consisting of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, capillary electrophoresis–mass spectrometry, and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry/ultraviolet spectroscopy. A total of 367 metabolites were identified and determined. Both principal component analysis and the number of significantly different metabolites indicated that topping had the greatest influence on the upper leaves. During the early stage of topping, great lipid level variations in the upper leaves were observed, and antioxidant defense metabolites were accumulated. This indicated that the topping activated lipid turnover and the antioxidant defense system. At the mature stage, lower levels of senescence-related metabolites and higher levels of secondary metabolites were found in the topped mature leaves. This implied that topping delayed leaf senescence and promoted secondary metabolite accumulation. This study provides a global view of the metabolic perturbation in response to topping.

Metabolic alterations in tobacco leaf in response to topping using a multiplatform metabolomics

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Author notes

  1. Jieyu Zhao and Lili Li contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian, Liaoning, 116023, China

    Jieyu Zhao, Lili Li, Yanni Zhao, Chunxia Zhao, Junjie Zhang, Chunxiu Hu, Xin Lu & Guowang Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, 116023, China

    Jieyu Zhao & Xiaojun Peng

  3. China Tobacco Gene Research Center, Zhengzhou Tobacco Research Institute of CNTC, Zhengzhou, Henan, 450001, China

    Xia Chen, Pingping Liu & Huina Zhou

  4. Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong, 266101, China

    Aiguo Chen & Guanshan Liu

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  1. Jieyu Zhao
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  2. Lili Li
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Correspondence to Xin Lu or Guowang Xu.

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Zhao, J., Li, L., Zhao, Y. et al. Metabolic changes in primary, secondary, and lipid metabolism in tobacco leaf in response to topping. Anal Bioanal Chem 410, 839–851 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0596-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0596-z

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