Spatially Resolved Plant Metabolomics

Abstract

Research and innovation in metabolomics tools to measure metabolite accumulation within plants have led to important discoveries with respect to the improvement of plant stress tolerance, development, and crop yield. Traditional metabolomics analyses have commonly utilized gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, but these methods are often performed without regard for the spatial locations of metabolites within tissues. Methods for mass spectral imaging (MSI) have recently been developed to detect and spatially resolve metabolite accumulation and are rapidly being adopted on a wider scale. Since 2010, the number of publications incorporating mass spectral imaging has grown from approximately 80 articles to over 378 on a yearly basis, constituting an increase of at least 350% during this time frame. Spatially resolved metabolite accumulation data provides unique insights into the function and regulation of plant biochemical pathways. Mass spectral imaging is commonly paired with desorption ionization technologies, including matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI), to generate accurate, spatially resolved metabolomics data from prepared tissue segments. Here, we describe the most recent advancements in sample preparation methods, mass spectral imaging technologies, and data processing tools that have been developed to address the limits of MSI technology. Additionally, we summarize recent applications of MSI technologies in plant metabolomics and discuss potential avenues for future research advancements within the plant biology community through the use of these technologies.

Plant phenotyping relevance

植物組織内の代謝物蓄積を空間的に測定する質量分析イメージング技術、試料調製、データ処理を中心にレビューしており、植物状態の取得手法が主題である。

Code and data availability

This is a review article on spatially resolved plant metabolomics. The Data Availability Statement explicitly states no new data were created or analyzed. The only public links are BioRender figure schematics (Figures 1-3), which are illustrative diagrams, not plant-phenotyping measurements, datasets, images, or author

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