Metabolic profiling reveals glucose and fructose accumulation in gcr1 knock-out mutant of Arabidopsis

Abstract

Abstract The ligands and functions of GCR1, the putative G-protein coupled receptor gene of Arabidopsis thaliana, and its role in metabolism are not well studied. Herein, we determined the contents of different pigments, glucosinolates, and lipophilic and hydrophilic compounds in gcr1 knock-out mutant and wild-type plants to investigate the roles of GCR1. Overall, 68 and 58 metabolites were detected using high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography–quadrupole mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography–time-of-flight mass spectrometry in 10-day-old seedlings and 24-day-old shoots of mutant and wild-type plants. The levels of glucose and fructose in the gcr1 mutant were significantly higher than those in the wild-type at the two developmental stages. The results of partial least squares discriminant analysis and variable importance in the projection showed that glucose and fructose contributed the most to the separation. These results suggest that GCR1 is linked to glucose sensing and affects glycolysis via cyclic AMP.

Keywords

• Arabidopsis thaliana
• GCR1
• AtRGS1
• G-protein coupled receptor
• Metabolic profiling