title: Structured plant metabolomics for the simultaneous exploration of multiple factors.
abstract: Multiple factors act simultaneously on plants to establish complex interaction networks involving nutrients, elicitors and metabolites. Metabolomics offers a better understanding of complex biological systems, but evaluating the simultaneous impact of different parameters on metabolic pathways that have many components is a challenging task. We therefore developed a novel approach that combines experimental design, untargeted metabolic profiling based on multiple chromatography systems and ionization modes, and multiblock data analysis, facilitating the systematic analysis of metabolic changes in plants caused by different factors acting at the same time. Using this method, target geraniol compounds produced in transgenic tobacco cell cultures were grouped into clusters based on their response to different factors. We hypothesized that our novel approach may provide more robust data for process optimization in plant cell cultures producing any target secondary metabolite, based on the simultaneous exploration of multiple factors rather than varying one factor each time. The suitability of our approach was verified by confirming several previously reported examples of elicitor-metabolite crosstalk. However, unravelling all factor-metabolite networks remains challenging because it requires the identification of all biochemically significant metabolites in the metabolomics dataset.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen 52074, Germany.
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Vasilev
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Lausanne and University of Geneva, 1211, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boccard
authors.affiliation: Philip Morris International R&D, Philip Morris Products S.A., Neuchâtel 2000, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gerhard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: Department II-Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, Beuth University of Applied Sciences, Berlin 13353, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Grömping
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen 52074, Germany.|Institute for Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen 52074, Germany.
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Philip Morris International R&D, Philip Morris Products S.A., Neuchâtel 2000, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Goepfert
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Lausanne and University of Geneva, 1211, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Serge
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rudaz
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biotechnology, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Aachen 52074, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schillberg
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003583:Cytokinins / Q000494:pharmacology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids / Q000494:pharmacology; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways; D055442:Metabolome; D055432:Metabolomics / Q000379:methods*; D059828:Plant Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000494:pharmacology; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003583:Cytokinins; D007210:Indoleacetic Acids; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators