Highly Species-Specific Foliar Metabolomes of Diverse Woody Species and Relationships with the Leaf Economics Spectrum

Rabea Schweiger, Eva Castells Caballe, Luca Da Sois, Jordi Martínez-Vilalta, Caroline Müller

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Plants show an extraordinary diversity in chemical composition and are characterized by different functional traits. However, relationships between the foliar primary and specialized metabolism in terms of metabolite numbers and composition as well as links with the leaf economics spectrum have rarely been explored. We investigated these relationships in leaves of 20 woody species from the Mediterranean region grown as saplings in a common garden, using a comparative ecometabolomics approach that included (semi-)polar primary and specialized metabolites. Our analyses revealed significant positive correlations between both the numbers and relative composition of primary and specialized metabolites. The leaf metabolomes were highly species-specific but in addition showed some phylogenetic imprints. Moreover, metabolomes of deciduous species were distinct from those of evergreens. Significant relationships were found between the primary metabolome and nitrogen content and carbon/nitrogen ratio, important traits of the leaf economics spectrum, ranging from acquisitive (mostly deciduous) to conservative (evergreen) leaves. A comprehensive understanding of various leaf traits and their coordination in different plant species may facilitate our understanding of plant functioning in ecosystems. Chemodiversity is thereby an important component of biodiversity.

Original languageEnglish
Article number644
Pages (from-to)1-19
Number of pages19
JournalCells
Volume10
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Mar 2021

Keywords

  • Chemodiversity
  • Deciduous versus evergreen
  • Leaf economics spectrum
  • Leaf habit
  • Med-iterranean
  • Metabolite richness
  • Metabolomics
  • Primary metabolites
  • Specialized metabolites
  • Species comparison

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