Metabolic fingerprinting of wild type and transgenic tobacco plants by 1H NMR and multivariate analysis technique

The metabolomic analysis of wild type and constitutive salicylic acid producing tobacco plants (CSA tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum 'Samsun' NN) plants overexpressing salicylate biosynthetic genes was carried out by H-1 NMR spectrometry and multivariate analysis techniques. The principle component analysis (PCA) of the H-1 NMR spectra showed a clear discrimination between those samples by PC1 and PC2. The discrimination of non-inoculated, TMV-virus inoculated, and systemic leaves or veins could also be obtained by PCA analysis. Major peaks in H-1 NMR spectra contributing to the discrimination were assigned as those of chlorogenic acid, malic acid, and Sugars. This method allows an efficient differentiation between wild type and transgenic plants without any pre-purification steps. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.