Dissertation
METABOLOMIC CHANGES IN GRASSES DUE TO BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/111364
Abstract
Plant metabolism is a highly variable phenotypic response that can be measured using metabolomics. This method allows for semi-quantitative analysis of all or most metabolites present within a plant at any given time. Metabolomics is a highly valuable technique that can be applied to many different biological questions.
The purpose of this dissertation was to develop and expand the application of metabolomics to understand how biotic and abiotic stresses can alter different grass species’ biochemistry. Using an untargeted metabolomic approach, we investigated the metabolic changes in wheat when infected with a fungus, Tilletia caries, and the impact of competition and drought on native and invasive haplotypes of a marsh grass, Phragmites australis. In addition, we applied metabolomics to a newer application, ecometabolomics, to investigate chemical diversity within native P. australis populations and elucidate if the invasive haplotype chemical diversity was changing as it adapted to new environment during its range expansion within North America. In our biotic related application of metabolomics, we found that T. caries antagonizes its host defenses by reducing wheat’s sweet immunity response and other related pathways. Our abiotic application of metabolomics found that drought and competition stress can differentially elicit an allelopathic compound(s) throughout the year and developmental stage of the P. australis. However, native P. australis haplotypes possess greater chemical diversity compared to invasive haplotypes, and the Northeast United States population of haplotype M had increased chemical diversity relative to Midwest or Pacific Northwest populations, which suggests adaption to its new environment. These results highlight the importance of measuring a plant’s metabolome when trying to investigate or understand a plant’s adaptations and ability to respond to various environmental influences.
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Details
- Title
- METABOLOMIC CHANGES IN GRASSES DUE TO BIOTIC AND ABIOTIC FACTORS
- Creators
- Rebecca Ann Weed
- Contributors
- David R Gang (Advisor)Linda Thomashow (Committee Member)Lori Carris (Committee Member)Timothy Prather (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Program in Molecular Plant Sciences
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 207
- Identifiers
- 99900581502401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation