Phenotyping reproductive stage chilling and frost tolerance in wheat using targeted metabolome and lipidome profiling

Abstract

Introduction: Frost events lead to A$360 million of yield losses annually to the Australian wheat industry, making improvement of chilling and frost tolerance an important trait for breeding. Objectives: This study aimed to use metabolomics and lipidomics to explore genetic variation in acclimation potential to chilling and to identify metabolite markers for chilling tolerance in wheat. Methods: We established a controlled environment screening assay that is able to reproduce field rankings of wheat germplasm for chilling and frost tolerance. This assay, together with targeted metabolomics and lipidomics approaches, were used to compare metabolite and lipid levels in flag leaves of two w..