Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26424159›Full record

ArticlePlant physiology2015

Metabolite Profiles of Maize Leaves in Drought, Heat, and Combined Stress Field Trials Reveal the Relationship between Metabolism and Grain Yield.

Toshihiro Obata, Sandra Witt, Jan Lisec, Natalia Palacios-Rojas, Igor Florez-Sarasa, Salima Yousfi, Jose Luis Araus, Jill E Cairns, Alisdair R Fernie

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Plant physiology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 128 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
128citing papers in PubMed
36.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

128 citing papers in PubMed, 339 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Linking cellular metabolism to chromatin modifications in plants.Journal of integrative plant biology · 2026
    Review
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  5. Decoding Heat-Shock Responses inJournal of agricultural and food chemistry · 2026
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Review
  12. The differential transpiration response of plants to stress.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Review

68 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Toshihiro ObataMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.) obata@mpimp-golm.mpg.de.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8931-7722
Sandra WittMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Jan LisecMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Natalia Palacios-RojasMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Igor Florez-SarasaMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1862-7931
Salima YousfiMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Jose Luis ArausMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Jill E CairnsMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2735-3485
Alisdair R FernieMax-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany (T.O., S.W., J.L., I.F.-S., A.R.F.);International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Kilometer 45 Carretera Mexico-Veracruz, Texcoco, Mexico 56130 (N.P.-R.);Department de Biologia Vegetal, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain (S.Y., J.L.A.); andInternational Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, Southern Africa Regional Office, Harare, Zimbabwe (J.E.C.).
Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz Y Trigo · MXMax Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The development of abiotic stress-resistant cultivars is of premium importance for the agriculture of developing countries. Further progress in maize (Zea mays) performance under stresses is expected by combining marker-assisted breeding with metabolite markers. In order to dissect metabolic responses and to identify promising metabolite marker candidates, metabolite profiles of maize leaves were analyzed and compared with grain yield in field trials. Plants were grown under well-watered conditions (control) or exposed to drought, heat, and both stresses simultaneously. Trials were conducted in 2010 and 2011 using 10 tropical hybrids selected to exhibit diverse abiotic stress tolerance. Drought stress evoked the accumulation of many amino acids, including isoleucine, valine, threonine, and 4-aminobutanoate, which has been commonly reported in both field and greenhouse experiments in many plant species. Two photorespiratory amino acids, glycine and serine, and myoinositol also accumulated under drought. The combination of drought and heat evoked relatively few specific responses, and most of the metabolic changes were predictable from the sum of the responses to individual stresses. Statistical analysis revealed significant correlation between levels of glycine and myoinositol and grain yield under drought. Levels of myoinositol in control conditions were also related to grain yield under drought. Furthermore, multiple linear regression models very well explained the variation of grain yield via the combination of several metabolites. These results indicate the importance of photorespiration and raffinose family oligosaccharide metabolism in grain yield under drought and suggest single or multiple metabolites as potential metabolic markers for the breeding of abiotic stress-tolerant maize.

Indexed as

DroughtsHot TemperatureMetabolomeAmino AcidsAnalysis of VarianceBiomassEdible GrainGenotypeHybridization, GeneticMetabolomicsOligosaccharidesPlant LeavesPrincipal Component AnalysisSeasonsSpecies SpecificityStress, PhysiologicalAmino AcidsOligosaccharides

Identifiers

PMID26424159
PMCPMC4677906
OpenAlexW2118643445

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.