Metabolomics is an effective biotechnological tool that can be used to attain comprehensive information on metabolites. In this study, the profiles of metabolites produced by wheat seedlings in response to drought stress were investigated using an untargeted approach with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) to determine various physiological processes related to drought tolerance from the cross between drought-tolerant genotype (HX10) and drought-sensitive genotype (YN211). The current study results showed that under drought stress, HX10 exhibited higher growth indices than YN211. After drought stress treatment, a series of phenolics accumulated higher in HX10 than in YN211, whereas the amount of thymine, a pyrimidine, is almost 13 folds of that in YN211. These metabolites, as well as high levels of different amino acids, alkaloids, organic acids, and flavonoids in the drought treated HX10 could help to explain its strong drought-tolerant capacity. The current study explored the understanding of the mechanisms involved in the drought response of wheat seedling; these metabolome data could also be used for potential QTL or GWAS studies to identify locus (loci) or gene(s) associated with these metabolic traits for the crop improvement.
Keywords: drought stress; metabolites; photosynthesis indices; untargeted approach; wheat.