AI Article Synopsis
- The metabolome, which is critical for understanding plant structure and function, shows variability across different plant species, but its macroecological aspects are not well understood.
- A study analyzed leaf metabolome variations in 457 tropical and 339 temperate plant species using five metabolic functional traits, identifying two main axes: chemical defense and leaf longevity.
- Findings indicate that while both tropical and temperate plants exhibit similar patterns, metabolic traits offer new insights that expand the existing framework of functional traits related to plant life-history strategies.
Article Abstract
The metabolome is the biochemical basis of plant form and function, but we know little about its macroecological variation across the plant kingdom. Here, we used the plant functional trait concept to interpret leaf metabolome variation among 457 tropical and 339 temperate plant species. Distilling metabolite chemistry into five metabolic functional traits reveals that plants vary on two major axes of leaf metabolic specialization-a leaf chemical defense spectrum and an expression of leaf longevity. Axes are similar for tropical and temperate species, with many trait combinations being viable. However, metabolic traits vary orthogonally to life-history strategies described by widely used functional traits. The metabolome thus expands the functional trait concept by providing additional axes of metabolic specialization for examining plant form and function.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10468135 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi4029 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!