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Comparative metabolic profiling of four transgenic maize lines and two non-transgenic maize lines using high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry

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Abstract

We compared metabolic changes in transgenic maize lines (differing in genetic backgrounds and exogenous genes insertion) with non-transgenic counterparts. At the corn seedling stage, entirely expanding leaves were obtained from maize lines 1 (transgenic maize SK12-5; overexpressing cry1Ab/cry2Aj; parental maize ZD958), 2 (transgenic maize IE034; overexpressing cry1Ie; parental maize ZD958), 3 (transgenic maize Bt799; overexpressing cry1Ac-M; parental maize Z58), 4 (transgenic maize Bt799; overexpressing cry1Ac-M; parental maize ZD958), 5 (non-transgenic maize Z58), and 6 (non-transgenic maize ZD958). For each line, six biological replicates were prepared; each contained an entirely expanded leaf at the top of the plant. Metabolites were identified with high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry in three comparison groups (4 transgenic maize lines vs. their corresponding controls, line 3 vs. 4, and transgenic vs. non-transgenic maize). Top 200 cationic and top 200 anionic metabolites with higher variable importance in projection value were chosen for principal component analysis, followed by pathway enrichment analysis. Annotation was possible for 227 of 400 metabolites. Twelve up- and 26 down-regulated overlapping metabolites were identified in line 1 vs. 6, line 2 vs. 6, and line 4 vs. 6 comparison groups. Altered metabolites significantly enriched in purine and glutathione metabolism pathways, but no pathways were enriched in line 3 vs. 4. Comparing transgenic and non-transgenic maize lines revealed 59 up- and 37 down-regulated metabolites, which were also significantly enriched in purine and glutathione metabolism pathways. Therefore, transgenic Bt maize differed metabolically from non-transgenic maize. Additionally, purine and glutathione metabolism pathways may be important in the transgenic maize metabolism.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Transgenic Plant Special Fund (2016ZX08012-001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science and Technology, Harbin Normal University, No. 50, Hexing Road, Nangang District, Harbin, 150080, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China

    Wenyuan Hao & Dongyun Hao

  2. Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, 130033, Jilin, People’s Republic of China

    Wenyuan Hao, Feiwu Li, Wei Yan, Congcong Li & Dongyun Hao

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  1. Wenyuan Hao
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Correspondence to Dongyun Hao.

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Additional information

Communicated by M. Hajduch.

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11738_2017_2468_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 1 Representative chromatograms produced from HPLC separations of leaf extract. (A) Positive ion mode. (B) Negative ion mode. Different colors represent 3 separate samplings (TIFF 13217 kb)

11738_2017_2468_MOESM2_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 2 PCA including all metabolites. Points with different colors indicate different samples (TIFF 731 kb)

Supplementary Table 1 The results of random forest calculation (XLSX 213 kb)

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Hao, W., Li, F., Yan, W. et al. Comparative metabolic profiling of four transgenic maize lines and two non-transgenic maize lines using high-performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. Acta Physiol Plant 39, 167 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-017-2468-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-017-2468-8

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