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Publications - Molecular Signal Processing
Publications
Introduction Liverworts are a group of non-vascular plants that possess unique metabolism not found in other plants. Many liverwort metabolites have interesting structural and biochemical characteristics, however the fluctuations of these metabolites in response to stressors is largely unknown. Objectives To investigate the metabolic stress-response of the leafy liverwort Radula complanata. Methods Five phytohormones were applied exogenously to in vitro cultured R. complanata and an untargeted metabolomic analysis was conducted. Compound classification and identification was performed with CANOPUS and SIRIUS while statistical analyses including PCA, ANOVA, and variable selection using BORUTA were conducted to identify metabolic shifts.Results It was found that R. complanata was predominantly composed of carboxylic acids and derivatives, followed by benzene and substituted derivatives, fatty acyls, organooxygen compounds, prenol lipids, and flavonoids. The PCA revealed that samples grouped based on the type of hormone applied, and the variable selection using BORUTA (Random Forest) revealed 71 identified and/or classified features that fluctuated with phytohormone application. The stress-response treatments largely reduced the production of the selected primary metabolites while the growth treatments resulted in increased production of these compounds. 4-(3-Methyl-2-butenyl)-5-phenethylbenzene-1,3-diol was identified as a biomarker for the growth treatments while GDP-hexose was identified as a biomarker for the stress-response treatments. Conclusion Exogenous phytohormone application caused clear metabolic shifts in Radula complanata that deviate from the responses of vascular plants. Further identification of the selected metabolite features can reveal metabolic biomarkers unique to liverworts and provide more insight into liverwort stress responses.
Publications
Bryophytes are prolific producers of unique, specialized metabolites that are not found in other plants. As many of these unique natural products are potentially interesting, for example, pharmacological use, variations in the production regarding ecological or environmental conditions have not often been investigated. Here, we investigate metabolic shifts in the epiphytic Radula complanata L. (Dumort) with regard to different environmental conditions and the type of phorophyte (host tree). Plant material was harvested from three different locations in Sweden, Germany, and Canada and subjected to untargeted liquid chromatography high-resolution mass-spectrometry (UPLC/ESI-QTOF-MS) and data-dependent acquisition (DDA-MS). Using multivariate statistics, variable selection methods, in silico compound identification, and compound classification, a large amount of variation (39%) in the metabolite profiles was attributed to the type of host tree and 25% to differences in environmental conditions. We identified 55 compounds to vary significantly depending on the host tree (36 on the family level) and 23 compounds to characterize R. complanata in different environments. Taken together, we found metabolic shifts mainly in primary metabolites that were associated with the drought response to different humidity levels. The metabolic shifts were highly specific to the host tree, including mostly specialized metabolites suggesting high levels of ecological interaction. As R. complanata is a widely distributed generalist species, we found it to flexibly adapt its metabolome according to different conditions. We found metabolic composition to also mirror the constitution of the habitat, which makes it interesting for conservation measures.
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