Metabolomics for Plant Improvement: Status and Prospects

Abstract

Post-genomics era has witnessed the development of cutting-edge technologies that have offered cost-efficient and high-throughput ways for molecular characterization of the function of a cell or organism. Large-scale metabolite profiling assays have allowed researchers to access the global data sets of metabolites and the corresponding metabolic pathways in an unprecedented way. Recent efforts in metabolomics have been directed to improve the quality along with a major focus on yield related traits. Importantly, an integration of metabolomics with other approaches such as quantitative genetics, transcriptomics and genetic modification has established its immense relevance to plant improvement. An effective combination of these modern approaches guides researchers to pinpoint the functional gene(s) and the characterization of massive metabolites, in order to prioritize the candidate genes for downstream analyses and ultimately, offering trait specific markers to improve commercially important traits. This in turn will improve the ability of a plant breeder by allowing him to make more informed decisions. Given this, the present review captures the significant leads gained in the past decade in the field of plant metabolomics accompanied by a brief discussion on the current contribution and the future scope of metabolomics to accelerate plant improvement.

Keywords: biofortification; crop improvement; fruit quality; metabolomics; phytonutrient.

FIGURE 1

Schematic representation of high throughput data analysis process. A set of raw data files is read after file conversion to desired formats. Data cleaning involves cleaning input file to remove false positives through noise reduction and background correction. Feature extraction is used to differentiate individual peaks from overlapped or closely aligned ones. Additionally, compounds can be identified by analyzing spectra and chemical compound structures available in the metabolomics library or databases.

FIGURE 2

An overview for the use of ‘omics’ approaches for crop improvement.