The IPB has once again been recognized for its exemplary actions in terms of equal opportunity-oriented personnel and organizational policies and has received the TOTAL E-QUALITY certification for the…
The Plant Science Student Conference (PSSC) has been organised by students from the two Leibniz institutes, IPK and IPB, every year for the last 20 years. In this interview, Christina Wäsch (IPK) and…
Plants exude a diverse cocktail of metabolites into the soil as response to exogenous and endogenous factors. So far, root exudates have mainly been studied under artificial conditions due to methodological difficulties. In this study, each five perennial grass and forb species were investigated for polar and semi-polar metabolites in exudates under field conditions. Metabolite collection and untargeted profiling approaches combined with a novel classification method allowed the designation of 182 metabolites. The composition of exuded polar metabolites depended mainly on the local environment, especially soil conditions, whereas the pattern of semi-polar metabolites was primarily affected by the species identity. The profiles of both polar and semi-polar metabolites differed between growth forms, with grass species being generally more similar to each other and more responsive to the abiotic environment than forb species. This study demonstrated the feasibility of investigating exudates under field conditions and to identify the driving factors of exudate composition.