Comparative metabolic profiling of resistant and susceptible mungbean (Vigna radiata L. Wilczek) genotypes to elucidate the defense response against mungbean yellow mosaic virus (MYMV) disease

Mungbean Yellow Mosaic Virus (MYMV) disease significantly impacts mungbean crop productivity, with the losses ranging from 10 to 100 percent. Developing host plant resistance offers a sustainable solution to mitigate this challenge. The metabolic changes underlying resistance to MYMV remain primarily unexplored in mungbean. The present study used nontargeted metabolomic profiling to analyze the comparative metabolic changes in resistant and susceptible genotypes upon disease incidence. The methanol extract of leaf samples collected from MYMV disease resistant (GAM 5) and susceptible (ADT 3) genotypes upon occurrence of MYMV disease were subjected to gas chromatography – mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS) analysis. Metabolic profiling resulted in the identification of 40 and 49 metabolites in resistant and susceptible genotypes, respectively. The fold change analysis revealed that 12 metabolites showed significant differences in the abundance level between resistant and susceptible genotypes. Out of 12, nine metabolites were significantly up-regulated in the resistant genotype compared to the susceptible genotype. For all the up-regulated metabolites except Erythrodiol, their role in plant-pathogen interaction was identified as either antimicrobial (ethylene glycol, chlorogenic acid, trifolin), antiviral activity (diphenyl sulfone, 2-amino oxazole), antifeedant (betulin), changes in the specific biochemical and structural property (xylose) or involvement in signaling cascade (oleic acid). These metabolites act as a metabolic biomarker; their interaction with specific molecular targets associated with MYMV infection can be further examined and utilized to rapidly develop MYMV-resistant cultivars in mungbean.