Abstract
Background: Adverse environmental conditions and an ever-increasing world population require devising and designing a roadmap for the next generation of wheat crops for high productivity and resilience to climate change. As such, a fundamental understanding of wheat metabolism and molecular descriptors of wheat seed potentials and quality is a sine qua non step. Objectives: In this study we investigated the seed metabolomes of five wheat cultivars to identify differential metabolic profiles and cultivar-related metabolic markers. Methods: Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) combined with computational strategies and functional analyses was applied. Metabolites were extracted using methanol, and samples were analysed on an LC-MS/MS system. Results: The results revealed that the extracted wheat cultivar seed metabolomes spanned a broad range of metabolite classes, including alkaloids, sugars, phenolics, amino acids, hormones, TCA compounds and lipids. Furthermore, the results also revealed key metabolic markers differentiating the wheat cultivars from one another, such as lipids (i.e., MGMG and 13-HODE) and flavonoids (i.e., rutin, tricin and vitexin), amongst many others. Conclusions: Such insights are important in assessing seed quality as well as in the selection of markers for seed nutrient and quality trait improvement in wheat breeding programmes. As such, this work generates novel actionable knowledge, a comprehensive metabolomic landscape of wheat seeds and potential markers for cultivar differentiation and quality assessment, which is essential for sustainable and improved wheat production. Thus, the study contributes towards the realisation of sustainable food security, an urgent call for action in a global partnership, as articulated in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly zero hunger.