Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Mechanisms of metabolic adaptation in the duckweed Lemna gibba: an integrated metabolic, transcriptomic and flux analysis

Journal Article · · BMC Plant Biology
Abstract Background

Duckweeds are small, rapidly growing aquatic flowering plants. Due to their ability for biomass production at high rates they represent promising candidates for biofuel feedstocks. Duckweeds are also excellent model organisms because they can be maintained in well-defined liquid media, usually reproduce asexually, and because genomic resources are becoming increasingly available. To demonstrate the utility of duckweed for integrated metabolic studies, we examined the metabolic adaptation of growing Lemna gibba cultures to different nutritional conditions.

Results

To establish a framework for quantitative metabolic research in duckweeds we derived a central carbon metabolism network model of Lemna gibba based on its draft genome. Lemna gibba fronds were grown with nitrate or glutamine as nitrogen source. The two conditions were compared by quantification of growth kinetics, metabolite levels, transcript abundance, as well as by 13 C-metabolic flux analysis. While growing with glutamine, the fronds grew 1.4 times faster and accumulated more protein and less cell wall components compared to plants grown on nitrate. Characterization of photomixotrophic growth by 13 C-metabolic flux analysis showed that, under both metabolic growth conditions, the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle and the oxidative pentose-phosphate pathway are highly active, creating a futile cycle with net ATP consumption. Depending on the nitrogen source, substantial reorganization of fluxes around the tricarboxylic acid cycle took place, leading to differential formation of the biosynthetic precursors of the Asp and Gln families of proteinogenic amino acids. Despite the substantial reorganization of fluxes around the tricarboxylic acid cycle, flux changes could largely not be associated with changes in transcripts.

Conclusions

Through integrated analysis of growth rate, biomass composition, metabolite levels, and metabolic flux, we show that Lemna gibba is an excellent system for quantitative metabolic studies in plants. Our study showed that Lemna gibba adjusts to different nitrogen sources by reorganizing central metabolism. The observed disconnect between gene expression regulation and metabolism underscores the importance of metabolic flux analysis as a tool in such studies.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Chemical Sciences, Geosciences & Biosciences Division (CSGB); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704; SC0018244
OSTI ID:
2007417
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2007521
Report Number(s):
BNL--224862-2023-JAAM; 458; PII: 4480
Journal Information:
BMC Plant Biology, Journal Name: BMC Plant Biology Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 23; ISSN 1471-2229
Publisher:
Springer Science + Business MediaCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English

References (88)

Growing Duckweed to Recover Nutrients from Wastewaters and for Production of Fuel Ethanol and Animal Feed journal January 2009
Mass spectra of alditol trifluoroacetates journal October 1969
Dry Weight and N Partitioning in Relation to Substrate N Supply, Internal N Status and Developmental Stage in Jack Pine (Pinus banksianaLamb.) Seedlings: Implications for Modelling journal February 1998
Active hexose uptake in Lemna gibba G1 journal January 1978
Photosynthesis in intact leaves of C3 plants: Physics, physiology and rate limitations journal January 1985
The evolution of the plastid phosphate translocator family journal April 2019
Discovery of the canonical Calvin–Benson cycle journal October 2018
Interaction between root growth and mineral nutrition journal January 1993
Regulation and roles of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in plants journal June 2003
A Simple Method for the Isolation and Purification of Total Lipides from Animal Tissues journal May 1957
On methylation of unsaturated acids using boron trihalide–methanol reagents journal November 1971
Nitrate regulation of metabolism and growth journal June 1999
Thermolysis of microalgae and duckweed in a CO2-swept fixed-bed reactor: Bio-oil yield and compositional effects journal April 2012
Growing Lemna minor in agricultural wastewater and converting the duckweed biomass to ethanol journal November 2012
Enhanced biomass production and pollutant removal by duckweed in mixotrophic conditions journal December 2020
Production of high-starch duckweed and its conversion to bioethanol journal October 2011
Separation and quantitation of water soluble cellular metabolites by hydrophilic interaction chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry journal August 2006
Application of acetate derivatives for gas chromatography–mass spectrometry: Novel approaches on carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids analysis journal October 2008
A roadmap for interpreting 13 C metabolite labeling patterns from cells journal August 2015
Parallel determination of enzyme activities and in vivo fluxes in Brassica napus embryos grown on organic or inorganic nitrogen source journal August 2007
Determination of confidence intervals of metabolic fluxes estimated from stable isotope measurements journal July 2006
A Strategy for Identifying Differences in Large Series of Metabolomic Samples Analyzed by GC/MS journal February 2004
GC-MS Analysis of Amino Acids Rapidly Provides Rich Information for Isotopomer Balancing journal August 2000
Functional genomics of phosphate antiport systems of plastids journal July 2003
Transcriptional regulation is insufficient to explain substrate‐induced flux changes in Bacillus subtilis journal January 2013
The Spirodela polyrhiza genome reveals insights into its neotenous reduction fast growth and aquatic lifestyle journal February 2014
Fast gapped-read alignment with Bowtie 2 journal March 2012
Quantification of starch in plant tissues journal August 2006
Locating proteins in the cell using TargetP, SignalP and related tools journal April 2007
Systematic and integrative analysis of large gene lists using DAVID bioinformatics resources journal December 2008
13C-based metabolic flux analysis journal May 2009
Integrated flux and pool size analysis in plant central metabolism reveals unique roles of glycine and serine during photorespiration journal December 2022
Source of 12C in Calvin–Benson cycle intermediates and isoprene emitted from plant leaves fed with 13CO2 journal September 2020
The remarkable diversity of plant PEPC (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase): recent insights into the physiological functions and post-translational controls of non-photosynthetic PEPCs journal April 2011
Photosynthate costs associated with the utilization of different nitrogen-forms: influence on the carbon balance of plants and shoot-root biomass partitioning journal January 1998
The fluxes through glycolytic enzymes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae are predominantly regulated at posttranscriptional levels journal September 2007
Isotopically nonstationary 13 C flux analysis of changes in Arabidopsis thaliana leaf metabolism due to high light acclimation journal November 2014
Plant evolution and environmental adaptation unveiled by long-read whole-genome sequencing of Spirodela journal September 2019
Reimport of carbon from cytosolic and vacuolar sugar pools into the Calvin–Benson cycle explains photosynthesis labeling anomalies journal March 2022
Role of Transcriptional Regulation in Controlling Fluxes in Central Carbon Metabolism of Saccharomyces cerevisiae : A CHEMOSTAT CULTURE STUDY journal November 2003
Mitochondrial Metabolism in Developing Embryos of Brassica napus journal September 2006
influx_s: increasing numerical stability and precision for metabolic flux analysis in isotope labelling experiments journal December 2011
13CFLUX2—high-performance software suite for 13C-metabolic flux analysis journal October 2012
The glucose 6-phosphate shunt around the Calvin–Benson cycle journal November 2015
Metabolic and Signaling Aspects Underpinning the Regulation of Plant Carbon Nitrogen Interactions journal November 2010
Gapped BLAST and PSI-BLAST: a new generation of protein database search programs journal September 1997
Asparagine Metabolic Pathways in Arabidopsis journal December 2015
Return of the Lemnaceae: duckweed as a model plant system in the genomics and postgenomics era journal July 2021
Identification and Validation of Reference Genes for Normalization of Transcripts from Virus-Infected Arabidopsis thaliana journal March 2011
The Plastidic Pentose Phosphate Translocator Represents a Link between the Cytosolic and the Plastidic Pentose Phosphate Pathways in Plants journal February 2002
Genome-Wide Reprogramming of Primary and Secondary Metabolism, Protein Synthesis, Cellular Growth Processes, and the Regulatory Infrastructure of Arabidopsis in Response to Nitrogen journal September 2004
Analysis of Metabolic Flux Phenotypes for Two Arabidopsis Mutants with Severe Impairment in Seed Storage Lipid Synthesis journal September 2009
Subcellular Flux Analysis of Central Metabolism in a Heterotrophic Arabidopsis Cell Suspension Using Steady-State Stable Isotope Labeling journal November 2009
Leaf Functional Anatomy in Relation to Photosynthesis journal November 2010
Enzyme Redundancy and the Importance of 2-Oxoglutarate in Higher Plant Ammonium Assimilation journal July 2000
Nitrogen and Carbon Nutrient and Metabolite Signaling in Plants journal January 2001
Lemna paucicostata Hegelm. 6746 journal May 1980
Amino Acid Metabolism of Lemna minor L. journal April 1989
Metabolic Fluxes in an Illuminated Arabidopsis Rosette journal February 2013
Multifaceted roles of duckweed in aquatic phytoremediation and bioproducts synthesis journal September 2020
The role of light in soybean seed filling metabolism journal April 2009
Operation and function of the tricarboxylic acid cycle in the illuminated leaf journal January 2007
Uptake of organic nitrogen by plants: Tansley review journal February 2009
Metabolic flexibility during a trophic transition reveals the phenotypic plasticity of greater duckweed (Spirodela polyrhiza 7498) journal March 2023
Efficient genetic transformation and CRISPR /Cas9‐mediated genome editing in Lemna aequinoctialis journal May 2019
Engineering triacylglycerol accumulation in duckweed ( Lemna japonica ) journal November 2022
Efficient transformation and artificial miRNA gene silencing in Lemna minor journal July 2014
The metabolic flux phenotype of heterotrophic Arabidopsis cells reveals a complex response to changes in nitrogen supply journal February 2013
Comprehensive definition of genome features in Spirodela polyrhiza by high-depth physical mapping and short-read DNA sequencing strategies journal February 2017
Generating a high-confidence reference genome map of the Greater Duckweed by integration of cytogenomic, optical mapping, and Oxford Nanopore technologies journal September 2018
Genomic Signatures of Specialized Metabolism in Plants journal May 2014
Calibrating Duckweeds: Light, Clocks, Metabolism, Flowering journal August 1976
Medium and techniques for induction and growth of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plant cell cultures journal January 1972
Modeling Plant Metabolism: From Network Reconstruction to Mechanistic Models journal April 2020
Survey of the total fatty acid and triacylglycerol composition and content of 30 duckweed species and cloning of a Δ6-desaturase responsible for the production of γ-linolenic and stearidonic acids in Lemna gibba journal January 2013
Differential expression analysis for sequence count data journal October 2010
Glutamine rapidly induces the expression of key transcription factor genes involved in nitrogen and stress responses in rice roots journal September 2015
A Note on the Generation of Random Normal Deviates journal June 1958
Patterns of Plant Biomass Partitioning Depend on Nitrogen Source journal April 2011
The Influence of Plant Nutrition on Biomass Allocation journal May 1991
Metabolic Patterns in Spirodela polyrhiza Revealed by 15N Stable Isotope Labeling of Amino Acids in Photoautotrophic, Heterotrophic, and Mixotrophic Growth Conditions journal May 2018
Experimental flux measurements on a network scale journal January 2011
Transcript abundance on its own cannot be used to infer fluxes in central metabolism journal November 2014
Integration of a constraint-based metabolic model of Brassica napus developing seeds with 13C-metabolic flux analysis journal December 2014
Improving Production of Bioethanol from Duckweed (Landoltia punctata) by Pectinase Pretreatment journal August 2012
Cell-Type Specific Metabolic Flux Analysis: A Challenge for Metabolic Phenotyping and a Potential Solution in Plants journal November 2017
Nitrogen Uptake in Plants: The Plasma Membrane Root Transport Systems from a Physiological and Proteomic Perspective journal April 2021
The production of duckweed as a source of biofuels journal September 2012

Similar Records

A comparison of the toxicity and metabolism of phenol and chlorinated phenols by Lemna gibba, with special reference to 2,4,5-trichlorophenol
Journal Article · Fri Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 1997 · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry · OSTI ID:474333

Toxicity and metabolism of 2,4-dichlorophenol by the aquatic angiosperm Lemna gibba
Journal Article · Mon Jan 31 23:00:00 EST 1994 · Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry; (United States) · OSTI ID:5024533