Climate change profoundly impacts plants. However, our understanding of plant responses to climate largely relies on plant morphology and physiology, while plant metabolomic responses, especially those within plant roots, have received much less attention. Understanding root metabolomic variation is key to understanding cellular-level plant responses to changing climatic conditions. In this study, we investigated the individual and interactive effects of temperature and soil moisture on the root metabolome of the alpine Himalayan dwarf shrub Rhododendron anthopogon. Using an untargeted metabolomics approach, we analyzed shifts in metabolomic profiles in multivariate space and identified metabolites most responsive to climatic variation. Our results revealed that soil moisture exerted the strongest influence on root metabolomic profiles, followed by the interactive effects of temperature and moisture, with temperature alone explaining the least variation. Notably, approximately 75% of metabolites significantly affected by climate responded to the interaction between temperature and moisture, suggesting that temperature effects are largely moisture-dependent. Multiple classes of primary and secondary metabolites were influenced by climate, with flavonoids, alkaloids, and triterpenoids showing the most pronounced responses. Pathway analysis indicated the presence of several climate-sensitive metabolites involved in key metabolic pathways. The most responsive metabolites were phenolics, glycosides, and amino acids. These metabolites formed interconnected networks, acting as hub compounds likely playing pivotal roles in regulating plant responses to climatic variability. Our findings underscore the complex interplay between climatic factors in shaping root metabolomic profiles and suggest that climate change will impact plant health and productivity, possibly also affecting plant interactions with soil biota.

• Klíčová slova
• Rhododendron anthopogon, climate change, eco‐metabolomics, untargeted metabolomic,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Tropical rainforests harbor a particularly high plant diversity. We hypothesize that potential causes underlying this high diversity should be linked to distinct overall functionality (defense and growth allocation, anti-stress mechanisms, reproduction) among the different sympatric taxa. In this study we tested the hypothesis of the existence of a metabolomic niche related to a species-specific differential use and allocation of metabolites. We tested this hypothesis by comparing leaf metabolomic profiles of 54 species in two rainforests of French Guiana. Species identity explained most of the variation in the metabolome, with a species-specific metabolomic profile across dry and wet seasons. In addition to this "homeostatic" species-specific metabolomic profile significantly linked to phylogenetic distances, also part of the variance (flexibility) of the metabolomic profile was explained by season within a single species. Our results support the hypothesis of the high diversity in tropical forest being related to a species-specific metabolomic niche and highlight ecometabolomics as a tool to identify this species functional diversity related and consistent with the ecological niche theory.

• MeSH
• analýza rozptylu MeSH
• deštný prales * MeSH
• diskriminační analýza MeSH
• druhová specificita MeSH
• listy rostlin metabolismus   MeSH
• metabolom MeSH
• metabolomika * MeSH
• metoda nejmenších čtverců MeSH
• roční období MeSH
• shluková analýza MeSH
• stromy metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Geografické názvy
• Francouzská Guyana MeSH

Temperature governs most biotic processes, yet we know little about how warming affects whole ecosystems. Here we examined the responses of 128 components of a subarctic grassland to either 5-8 or >50 years of soil warming. Warming of >50 years drove the ecosystem to a new steady state possessing a distinct biotic composition and reduced species richness, biomass and soil organic matter. However, the warmed state was preceded by an overreaction to warming, which was related to organism physiology and was evident after 5-8 years. Ignoring this overreaction yielded errors of >100% for 83 variables when predicting their responses to a realistic warming scenario of 1 °C over 50 years, although some, including soil carbon content, remained stable after 5-8 years. This study challenges long-term ecosystem predictions made from short-term observations, and provides a framework for characterization of ecosystem responses to sustained climate change.

• MeSH
• ekosystém * MeSH
• klimatické změny MeSH
• koloběh uhlíku MeSH
• pastviny * MeSH
• půda MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH
• Názvy látek
• půda MeSH

Root exudates comprise a large variety of compounds released by plants into the rhizosphere, including low-molecular-weight primary metabolites (particularly saccharides, amino acids and organic acids) and secondary metabolites (phenolics, flavonoids and terpenoids). Changes in exudate composition could have impacts on the plant itself, on other plants, on soil properties (e.g. amount of soil organic matter), and on soil organisms. The effects of drought on the composition of root exudates, however, have been rarely studied. We used an ecometabolomics approach to identify the compounds in the exudates of Quercus ilex (holm oak) under an experimental drought gradient and subsequent recovery. Increasing drought stress strongly affected the composition of the exudate metabolome. Plant exudates under drought consisted mainly of secondary metabolites (71% of total metabolites) associated with plant responses to drought stress, whereas the metabolite composition under recovery shifted towards a dominance of primary metabolites (81% of total metabolites). These results strongly suggested that roots exude the most abundant root metabolites. The exudates were changed irreversibly by the lack of water under extreme drought conditions, and the plants could not recover.

• MeSH
• dub (rod) metabolismus   MeSH
• kořeny rostlin metabolismus   MeSH
• metabolom fyziologie   MeSH
• období sucha MeSH
• rostlinné exsudáty metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• rostlinné exsudáty MeSH