TIME SERIES METABOLIC PROFILING ANALYSIS OF THE SHORT TERM Arabidopsis thaliana RESPONSE TO ELEVATED CO2 USING GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS SPECTROMETRY.

Abstract

Metabolic profiling has emerged as a high throughput technique for the quantitative analysis of the cellular physiological state at the metabolic level. It allows for the simultaneous relative quantification of hundreds of low molecular weight intra cellular metabolites. In this analysis, the polar metabolic profiles of A. thaliana liquid cultures (grown for 12 days, under light and 23°C) throughout 1-day treatment with 1% CO2, were measured using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Despite the advantages of time series analysis, this is the first plant metabolic profiling study of this type reported in the literature. The time series metabolic profiles were analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques. Data analysis revealed repression of photorespiration, repression of nitrogen assimilation and increase in structural carbohydrates. It is for the first time that the latter phenomenon is observed as a result of elevated CO2 in the plant environment.