Metabolic profiling of virus-infected transgenic wheat with resistance to wheat yellow mosaic virus

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is an important crop, and wheat yellow mosaic virus (WYMV) can cause a severe loss in wheat yield. A genetically modified (GM) wheat carrying a WYMV 72kD coding gene (Wheat 72kD) with resistance to WYMV has been constructed in a previous study. However, neither the influence of genetic modification on wild-type wheat (WT) metabolism nor the effect of WYMV-infection on the metabolic profiling in 72kD is clear. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to detect the metabolic profiling in GM, WT, GM with WYMV-inoculation (GMV), WT with WYMV-inoculation (WTV) wheat, respectively. As a result, GM and WTV samples were close to each other on the principal component analysis (PCA) plot, indicating genetic modification and WYMV-infection might cause similar changes in wheat metabolism. Only 54 metabolites were annotated, and 16, 12, 17, and 14 metabolites were significantly different between GMV and GM, GMV and WTV, GM and WT, as well as between WTV and WT, respectively. Furthermore, overlapped metabolites were identified, including 3-chloro-4-hydroxybenzoic acid (CHBA), 3-sulfocatechol, S-mercaptocysteine, 1-chloro-2-nitrobenzene (2-chloronitrobenzene) and melarsoprol. In conclusion, genetic modification or/and WYMV-infection significantly affected the metabolism in wheat. This is the first report investigating the effects of WYMV-infection on metabolic profiling in GM wheat.