Faculty of Aguriculture 3｜YAMAGATA UNIVERSITY

Disease prevention using metabolome breeding

Associate Professor, Faculty of Agriculture

MIYAGI Atsuko

Oxalate, which is accumulated in the terrestrial parts of verious plants, causes deficiencies of minerals (such as calcium, iron, and zinc) and kidney stones in humans and livestock. The number of patients with mineral deficiencies and kidney stones has increased in recent years. Thus, the reduction of oxalate content in crops such as spinach an urgent and important issue. However, many aspects of the oxalate synthesis pathway in plants remain unclear, and why and how oxalate accumulates is still unknown.

To elucidate the mechanisms of oxalate synthesis pathway, I perform metabolomic analysis (comparative analysis of metabolites) of leaves of rice, bitter dock (Rumex obtusifolius L.) and other plants using a mass spectrometer. I aim to control the content of other metabolites that are related to taste and functionality by breeding crops with reduced oxalate. These knowledge would be helpful to improve crop quality and branding, and ultimately to prevent diseases in humans and livestock.

▲Figure 1. Rice plants growing in a paddy field. Oxalate is rarely found in the rice grains, but large amounts of oxalate accumulate in the leaves of some rice varieties.

▲Figure 2. Bitter dock (R. obtusifolius L.), an oxalate-rich plant in the family Polygonaceae. It is an invasive alien species with a strong reproductive capacity.

▲Figure 3. Analysis of metabolite data using a capillary electrophoresis-triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (CE-QQQ-MS).