Metabolomics analysis reveals enhanced salt tolerance in maize through exogenous Valine-Threonine-Isoleucine-Aspartic acid application

Kaihua Wu; Xiaoyan Liang; Xiu Zhang; Guoping Yang; Huaxiao Wang; Yining Xia; Shumila Ishfaq; Hongfei Ji; Yuxi Qi; Wei Guo

doi:10.3389/fpls.2024.1374142

Metabolomics analysis reveals enhanced salt tolerance in maize through exogenous Valine-Threonine-Isoleucine-Aspartic acid application

Front Plant Sci. 2024 May 17:15:1374142. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1374142. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Kaihua Wu^#¹, Xiaoyan Liang^#^{2

3}, Xiu Zhang¹, Guoping Yang¹, Huaxiao Wang¹, Yining Xia², Shumila Ishfaq², Hongfei Ji¹, Yuxi Qi¹, Wei Guo²

Affiliations

¹ North Minzu University, Ningxia Key Laboratory for the Development and Application of Microbial Resources in Extreme Environments, Yinchuan, China.
² Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Agro-products Quality and Safety Control in Storage and Transport Process, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, China.
³ Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Liege University, Laboratory of Integrated and Urban Plant Pathology, Gembloux, Belgium.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Salt stress is a well-known abiotic constraint that hampers crop productivity, affecting more than 424 million hectares of topsoil worldwide. Applying plant growth regulators externally has proven effective in enhancing crop resilience to salt stress. Previous metabolomics studies revealed an accumulation of Valine-Threonine-Isoleucine-Aspartic acid (VTID) in salt-stressed maize seedlings, suggesting its potential to assist maize adaptation to salt stress. To explore the effectiveness of VTID in enhancing salt tolerance in maize, 10 nM VTID was applied to salt-stressed maize seedlings. The results showed a remarkable 152.29% increase in plant height and a 122.40% increase in fresh weight compared to salt-stressed seedlings. Moreover, the addition of VTID enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes, specifically superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT), while reducing the level of malondialdehyde (MDA), a marker of oxidative stress. Additionally, VTID supplementation resulted in a significant increase in osmoregulatory substances such as proline. Metabolomic analysis revealed substantial changes in the metabolite profile of maize seedlings when treated with VTID during salt stress. Differential metabolites (DMs) analysis revealed that the identified DMs primarily belonged to lipids and lipid-like molecules. The receiver operating characteristic curve and linear regression analysis determined a correlation between isodolichantoside and the height of maize seedlings under salt-stress conditions. In conclusion, these findings validate that VTID effectively regulates tolerance in maize seedlings and offers valuable insights into the potential of short peptides for mitigating salt stress.

Keywords: exogenous; maize; metabolomics; salt stress; short peptide.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article This research received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32060424 and 32072377), the Ningxia Key Research and Development Plan (2023BCF01014), Science and Technology Leading Talents of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (2022GKLRLX06) and National Major Agricultural Science and Technology Project.