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Publications - Cell and Metabolic Biology

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Publications

El Amerany, F.; Rhazi, M.; Balcke, G.; Wahbi, S.; Meddich, A.; Taourirte, M.; Hause, B.; The effect of chitosan on plant physiology, wound response, and fruit quality of tomato Polymers 14, 5006, (2022) DOI: 10.3390/polym14225006

In agriculture, chitosan has become popular as a metabolic enhancer; however, no deep information has been obtained yet regarding its mechanisms on vegetative tissues. This work was conducted to test the impact of chitosan applied at different plant growth stages on plant development, physiology, and response to wounding as well as fruit shape and composition. Five concentrations of chitosan were tested on tomato. The most effective chitosan doses that increased leaf number, leaf area, plant biomass, and stomatal conductance were 0.75 and 1 mg mL−1. Chitosan (1 mg mL−1) applied as foliar spray increased the levels of jasmonoyl–isoleucine and abscisic acid in wounded roots. The application of this dose at vegetative and flowering stages increased chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) values, whereas application at the fruit maturation stage reduced the Fv/Fm values. This decline was positively correlated with fruit shape and negatively correlated with the pH and the content of soluble sugars, lycopene, total flavonoids, and nitrogen in fruits. Moreover, the levels of primary metabolites derived from glycolysis, such as inositol phosphate, lactic acid, and ascorbic acid, increased in response to treatment of plants with 1 mg mL−1- chitosan. Thus, chitosan application affects various plant processes by influencing stomata aperture, cell division and expansion, fruit maturation, mineral assimilation, and defense responses.
Publications

Peters, K.; Balcke, G.; Kleinenkuhnen, N.; Treutler, H.; Neumann, S.; Untargeted in silico compound classification—A novel metabolomics method to assess the chemodiversity in bryophytes Int. J. Mol. Sci. 22, 3251, (2021) DOI: 10.3390/ijms22063251

In plant ecology, biochemical analyses of bryophytes and vascular plants are often conducted on dried herbarium specimen as species typically grow in distant and inaccessible locations. Here, we present an automated in silico compound classification framework to annotate metabolites using an untargeted data independent acquisition (DIA)–LC/MS–QToF-sequential windowed acquisition of all theoretical fragment ion mass spectra (SWATH) ecometabolomics analytical method. We perform a comparative investigation of the chemical diversity at the global level and the composition of metabolite families in ten different species of bryophytes using fresh samples collected on-site and dried specimen stored in a herbarium for half a year. Shannon and Pielou’s diversity indices, hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), sparse partial least squares discriminant analysis (sPLS-DA), distance-based redundancy analysis (dbRDA), ANOVA with post-hoc Tukey honestly significant difference (HSD) test, and the Fisher’s exact test were used to determine differences in the richness and composition of metabolite families, with regard to herbarium conditions, ecological characteristics, and species. We functionally annotated metabolite families to biochemical processes related to the structural integrity of membranes and cell walls (proto-lignin, glycerophospholipids, carbohydrates), chemical defense (polyphenols, steroids), reactive oxygen species (ROS) protection (alkaloids, amino acids, flavonoids), nutrition (nitrogen- and phosphate-containing glycerophospholipids), and photosynthesis. Changes in the composition of metabolite families also explained variance related to ecological functioning like physiological adaptations of bryophytes to dry environments (proteins, peptides, flavonoids, terpenes), light availability (flavonoids, terpenes, carbohydrates), temperature (flavonoids), and biotic interactions (steroids, terpenes). The results from this study allow to construct chemical traits that can be attributed to biogeochemistry, habitat conditions, environmental changes and biotic interactions. Our classification framework accelerates the complex annotation process in metabolomics and can be used to simplify biochemical patterns. We show that compound classification is a powerful tool that allows to explore relationships in both molecular biology by “zooming in” and in ecology by “zooming out”. The insights revealed by our framework allow to construct new research hypotheses and to enable detailed follow-up studies.
Publications

Ordon, J.; Martin, P.; Erickson, J. L.; Ferik, F.; Balcke, G.; Bonas, U.; Stuttmann, J.; Disentangling cause and consequence: genetic dissection of the DANGEROUS MIX2 risk locus, and activation of the DM2h NLR in autoimmunity Plant J. 106, 1008-1023, (2021) DOI: 10.1111/tpj.15215

Nucleotide-binding domain–leucine-rich repeat-type immune receptors (NLRs) protect plants against pathogenic microbes through intracellular detection of effector proteins. However, this comes at a cost, as NLRs can also induce detrimental autoimmunity in genetic interactions with foreign alleles. This may occur when independently evolved genomes are combined in inter- or intraspecific crosses, or when foreign alleles are introduced by mutagenesis or transgenesis. Most autoimmunity-inducing NLRs are encoded within highly variable NLR gene clusters with no known immune functions, which were termed autoimmune risk loci. Whether risk NLRs differ from sensor NLRs operating in natural pathogen resistance and how risk NLRs are activated in autoimmunity is unknown. Here, we analyzed the DANGEROUS MIX2 risk locus, a major autoimmunity hotspot in Arabidopsis thaliana. By gene editing and heterologous expression, we show that a single gene, DM2h, is necessary and sufficient for autoimmune induction in three independent cases of autoimmunity in accession Landsberg erecta. We focus on autoimmunity provoked by an EDS1-yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)NLS fusion protein to characterize DM2h functionally and determine features of EDS1-YFPNLS activating the immune receptor. Our data suggest that risk NLRs function in a manner reminiscent of sensor NLRs, while autoimmunity-inducing properties of EDS1-YFPNLS in this context are unrelated to the protein\'s functions as an immune regulator. We propose that autoimmunity, at least in some cases, may be caused by spurious, stochastic interactions of foreign alleles with coincidentally matching risk NLRs.
Publications

Peters, K.; Worrich, A.; Weinhold, A.; Alka, O.; Balcke, G.; Birkemeyer, C.; Bruelheide, H.; Calf, O. W.; Dietz, S.; Dührkop, K.; Gaquerel, E.; Heinig, U.; Kücklich, M.; Macel, M.; Müller, C.; Poeschl, Y.; Pohnert, G.; Ristok, C.; Rodríguez, V. M.; Ruttkies, C.; Schuman, M.; Schweiger, R.; Shahaf, N.; Steinbeck, C.; Tortosa, M.; Treutler, H.; Ueberschaar, N.; Velasco, P.; Weiß, B. M.; Widdig, A.; Neumann, S.; van Dam, N. M.; Current Challenges in Plant Eco-Metabolomics Int. J. Mol. Sci. 19, 1385, (2018) DOI: 10.3390/ijms19051385

The relatively new research discipline of Eco-Metabolomics is the application of metabolomics techniques to ecology with the aim to characterise biochemical interactions of organisms across different spatial and temporal scales. Metabolomics is an untargeted biochemical approach to measure many thousands of metabolites in different species, including plants and animals. Changes in metabolite concentrations can provide mechanistic evidence for biochemical processes that are relevant at ecological scales. These include physiological, phenotypic and morphological responses of plants and communities to environmental changes and also interactions with other organisms. Traditionally, research in biochemistry and ecology comes from two different directions and is performed at distinct spatiotemporal scales. Biochemical studies most often focus on intrinsic processes in individuals at physiological and cellular scales. Generally, they take a bottom-up approach scaling up cellular processes from spatiotemporally fine to coarser scales. Ecological studies usually focus on extrinsic processes acting upon organisms at population and community scales and typically study top-down and bottom-up processes in combination. Eco-Metabolomics is a transdisciplinary research discipline that links biochemistry and ecology and connects the distinct spatiotemporal scales. In this review, we focus on approaches to study chemical and biochemical interactions of plants at various ecological levels, mainly plant–organismal interactions, and discuss related examples from other domains. We present recent developments and highlight advancements in Eco-Metabolomics over the last decade from various angles. We further address the five key challenges: (1) complex experimental designs and large variation of metabolite profiles; (2) feature extraction; (3) metabolite identification; (4) statistical analyses; and (5) bioinformatics software tools and workflows. The presented solutions to these challenges will advance connecting the distinct spatiotemporal scales and bridging biochemistry and ecology
Publications

Blüher, D.; Laha, D.; Thieme, S.; Hofer, A.; Eschen-Lippold, L.; Masch, A.; Balcke, G.; Pavlovic, I.; Nagel, O.; Schonsky, A.; Hinkelmann, R.; Wörner, J.; Parvin, N.; Greiner, R.; Weber, S.; Tissier, A.; Schutkowski, M.; Lee, J.; Jessen, H.; Schaaf, G.; Bonas, U.; A 1-phytase type III effector interferes with plant hormone signaling Nat. Commun. 8, 2159, (2017) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02195-8

Most Gram-negative phytopathogenic bacteria inject type III effector (T3E) proteins into plant cells to manipulate signaling pathways to the pathogen’s benefit. In resistant plants, specialized immune receptors recognize single T3Es or their biochemical activities, thus halting pathogen ingress. However, molecular function and mode of recognition for most T3Es remains elusive. Here, we show that the Xanthomonas T3E XopH possesses phytase activity, i.e., dephosphorylates phytate (myo-inositol-hexakisphosphate, InsP6), the major phosphate storage compound in plants, which is also involved in pathogen defense. A combination of biochemical approaches, including a new NMR-based method to discriminate inositol polyphosphate enantiomers, identifies XopH as a naturally occurring 1-phytase that dephosphorylates InsP6 at C1. Infection of Nicotiana benthamiana and pepper by Xanthomonas results in a XopH-dependent conversion of InsP6 to InsP5. 1-phytase activity is required for XopH-mediated immunity of plants carrying the Bs7 resistance gene, and for induction of jasmonate- and ethylene-responsive genes in N. benthamiana.
Publications

Kathagen, A.; Schulte, A.; Balcke, G.; Phillips, H. S.; Martens, T.; Matschke, J.; Günther, H. S.; Soriano, R.; Modrusan, Z.; Sandmann, T.; Kuhl, C.; Tissier, A.; Holz, M.; Krawinkel, L. A.; Glatzel, M.; Westphal, M.; Lamszus, K.; Hypoxia and oxygenation induce a metabolic switch between pentose phosphate pathway and glycolysis in glioma stem-like cells Acta Neuropathol. 126, 763-780, (2013) DOI: 10.1007/s00401-013-1173-y

Fluctuations in oxygen tension during tissue remodeling impose a major metabolic challenge in human tumors. Stem-like tumor cells in glioblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor, possess extraordinary metabolic flexibility, enabling them to initiate growth even under non-permissive conditions. We identified a reciprocal metabolic switch between the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) and glycolysis in glioblastoma stem-like (GS) cells. Expression of PPP enzymes is upregulated by acute oxygenation but downregulated by hypoxia, whereas glycolysis enzymes, particularly those of the preparatory phase, are regulated inversely. Glucose flux through the PPP is reduced under hypoxia in favor of flux through glycolysis. PPP enzyme expression is elevated in human glioblastomas compared to normal brain, especially in highly proliferative tumor regions, whereas expression of parallel preparatory phase glycolysis enzymes is reduced in glioblastomas, except for strong upregulation in severely hypoxic regions. Hypoxia stimulates GS cell migration but reduces proliferation, whereas oxygenation has opposite effects, linking the metabolic switch to the “go or grow” potential of the cells. Our findings extend Warburg’s observation that tumor cells predominantly utilize glycolysis for energy production, by suggesting that PPP activity is elevated in rapidly proliferating tumor cells but suppressed by acute severe hypoxic stress, favoring glycolysis and migration to protect cells against hypoxic cell damage.
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