Poplar, a model for woody plant research, is the most widely distributed tree species in the world. Metabolites are the basis of phenotypes, allowing an intuitive and effective understanding of biological processes and their mechanisms. However, metabolites in non-transgenic and multi-gene transgenic poplar remains poorly characterized, especially in regards of the influences on quantity and in the analysis of the relative abundance of metabolites after the introduction of multi stress-related genes. In this study, we investigated the cambium metabolomes of one non-transgenic (D5-0) and two multi-gene (vgb, SacB, ERF36, BtCry3A, and OC-I) transgenic lines (D5-20 and D5-21) of hybrid poplar (Populus × euramericana 'Guariento') using both gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). We aimed to explore the effects of the exogenous genes on metabolite composition and to screen out metabolites with important biological functions. Finally, we identified 239 named metabolites and determined their relative abundance. Among these, 197 metabolites had a different abundance across the three lines. These methabolites spanned nine primary and 44 secondary metabolism pathways. Arginine and glutamate, as substrates and intermediates in nitrogen metabolism, and important in growth and stress-related processes, as well as sucrose, uridine diphosphate glucose, and their derivatives, precursors in cell wall pathways, and catechol, relevant to insect resistance, differed greatly between the genetically modified and non-transgenic poplar. These findings may provide a basis for further study of cambium metabolism, and fully understand metabolites associated with stress response.
Keywords: GC–MS; UPLC–MS/MS; cambium; metabolomics; multi-gene transgenic poplar.