Stress-induced changes in carbon allocation among metabolite pools influence isotope-based predictions of water use efficiency in Phaseolus vulgaris
Erin Lockhart A , Birgit Wild B C , Andreas Richter C , Kevin Simonin A D and Andrew Merchant A E
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
B Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg 40530, Sweden.
C Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, University of Vienna, Vienna 1090, Austria.
D Department of Biology, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA.
E Corresponding author. Email: andrew.merchant@sydney.edu.au
Functional Plant Biology 43(12) 1149-1158 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP16022
Submitted: 18 January 2016 Accepted: 31 July 2016 Published: 5 September 2016
Abstract
Understanding how major food crops respond to environmental stress will expand our capacity to improve food production with growing populations and a changing climate. This study uses chemical and physiological adaptations to heat, water deficit and elevated light stresses in Phaseolus vulgaris L. to identify changes in carbon (C) allocation that, combined with post-photosynthetic fractionation of C isotopes, influences water use efficiency (WUE) predictions. The chemical stress response was explored through changes in C allocation to the carbohydrate and cyclitol pools using GC–triple quadrupole MS. Carbon allocation to the sucrose pool fluctuated significantly among treatments, and the putative osmolytes and osmoprotectants (myo-inositol and d-ononitol) accumulated under stress. Significant osmotic adjustment (P < 0.05), quantified via pressure–volume curve analysis, was detected between control and stress treatments, although this was not attributable to active accumulation of the metabolites. Compound-specific 13C isotope abundance was measured using liquid chromatography isotope ratio MS to predict intrinsic WUE. In contrast to other metabolites measured, the δ13C of the sucrose pool fluctuated according to treatment and was proportional to predicted values based upon modelled Δ13C from gas exchange data. The results suggest that the accuracy and precision of predicting WUE may be enhanced by compound-specific analysis of Δ13C and that changes in the allocation of C among metabolite pools may influence WUE predictions based upon analysis of total soluble C. Overall, the plants appeared to use a range of mechanisms to cope with adverse conditions that could be utilised to improve plant breeding and management strategies.
Additional keywords: abiotic stress, carbohydrate, common bean, d-ononitol, myo-inositol.
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