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Metabolite profiling during cold acclimation of Lolium perenne genotypes distinct in the level of frost tolerance

  • Plant Genetics • Original Paper
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Abstract

Abiotic stresses, including low temperature, can significantly reduce plant yielding. The knowledge on the molecular basis of stress tolerance could help to improve its level in species of relatively high importance to agriculture. Unfortunately, the complex research performed so far mainly on model species and also, to some extent, on cereals does not fully cover the demands of other agricultural plants of temperate climate, including forage grasses. Two Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass) genotypes with contrasting levels of frost tolerance, the high frost tolerant (HFT) and the low frost tolerant (LFT) genotypes, were selected for comparative metabolomic research. The work focused on the analysis of leaf metabolite accumulation before and after seven separate time points of cold acclimation. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was used to identify amino acids (alanine, proline, glycine, glutamic and aspartic acid, serine, lysine and asparagine), carbohydrates (fructose, glucose, sucrose, raffinose and trehalose) and their derivatives (mannitol, sorbitol and inositol) accumulated in leaves in low temperature. The observed differences in the level of frost tolerance between the analysed genotypes could be partially due to the time point of cold acclimation at which the accumulation level of crucial metabolite started to increase. In the HFT genotype, earlier accumulation was observed for proline and asparagine. The increased amounts of alanine, glutamic and aspartic acids, and asparagine during cold acclimation could be involved in the regulation of photosynthesis intensity in L. perenne. Among the analysed carbohydrates, only raffinose revealed a significant association with the acclimation process in this species.

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Abbreviations

Ala:

Alanine

Asp:

Aspartic acid

Asn:

Asparagine

CA:

Cold acclimation

Fru:

Fructose

GC/MS:

Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Glu:

Glutamic acid

Gly:

Glycine

Glc:

Glucose

HFT:

High frost tolerant

Ino:

Inositol

LFT:

Low frost tolerant

Lys:

Lysine

Man:

Mannitol

PCA:

Principal component analysis

PPFD:

Photosynthetic photon flux density

Pro:

Proline

Raf:

Raffinose

Ser:

Serine

Sor:

Sorbitol

Suc:

Sucrose

Tre:

Trehalose

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Acknowledgments

The selection of L. perenne genotypes applied in the research was performed in the framework of the project of The National Centre for Research and Development (no. PBZMNiSW-2/3/2006/21). We thank prof. Maciej Stobiecki from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (Poznan, Poland) for the revision of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plant Genetics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Strzeszyńska 34, 60-479, Poznan, Poland

    Aleksandra Bocian, Zbigniew Zwierzykowski, Grzegorz Koczyk & Arkadiusz Kosmala

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Rzeszow University of Technology, Powstancow Warszawy 6, 35-959, Rzeszow, Poland

    Aleksandra Bocian

  3. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Agriculture in Krakow, Podluzna 3, 30-239, Cracow, Poland

    Marcin Rapacz

  4. Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Noskowskiego 12/14, 61-704, Poznan, Poland

    Danuta Ciesiołka

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  1. Aleksandra Bocian
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  2. Zbigniew Zwierzykowski
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  3. Marcin Rapacz
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  4. Grzegorz Koczyk
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  5. Danuta Ciesiołka
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  6. Arkadiusz Kosmala
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Correspondence to Arkadiusz Kosmala.

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Communicated by: Andrzej Górny

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Bocian, A., Zwierzykowski, Z., Rapacz, M. et al. Metabolite profiling during cold acclimation of Lolium perenne genotypes distinct in the level of frost tolerance. J Appl Genetics 56, 439–449 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13353-015-0293-6

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