title: The responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to cadmium exposure explored via metabolite profiling.
abstract: The metabolic responses of Arabidopsis thaliana to cadmium exposure was characterized in this study. A. thaliana was cultivated in medium contaminated with different cadmium concentrations (0, 5 and 50microM, respectively) for 2weeks. Metabolite analyses were performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. More than 80 metabolites characterized by retention time indices and specific mass fragments were identified. The levels of carbohydrates, organic acids, amino acids, and other stress-responsive metabolites changed under cadmium stress. Treated plants showed increased levels of Ala, beta-ala, Pro, Ser, putrescine, Suc and other metabolites with compatible solute-like properties, notably 4-aminobutyric acid, glycerol, raffinose and trehalose, compared to control (untreated) plants. Studies indicated that concentrations of antioxidants (alfa-tocopherol, campesterol, beta-sitosterol and isoflavone) also increased significantly. These results confirm the important role of antioxidant defences in the mechanisms of plant-resistance to cadmium stress. Our results suggested that metabolic profiling is a powerful tool that can rapidly classify environmentally modified plants and simplify the process of cadmium-stress responses. These data will be helpful for better understanding of mechanisms of plant adaptation to cadmium stress at the metabolite level.
authors.affiliation: Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
authors.forename: Xiumei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jixiu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Haijun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yuwen
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ni
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jiping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yafeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000378:metabolism*; D002104:Cadmium / Q000633:toxicity*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D055442:Metabolome; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium