Metabolomic fingerprinting as a powerful diagnostic tool to assess the effects of abiotic stress in plants and seeds

Metabolomics is the analysis of an array of small-molecule metabolites known to be involved in a given biochemical pathway, and plant metabolism is perturbed by various abiotic stresses. In this review, basic definition of metabolomics, analytical tools used, metabolomic approaches, and how metabolomic techniques are used to assess the effects of abiotic stressors in plants and seeds are discussed. A brief summary shows that metabolomic techniques are powerful to dissect plant and seed responses to abiotic stress such as water, temperature, light, heavy metals, ions, salinity, and pollutants. It enables us to gain not only a comprehensive overview but also a detailed analysis of crucial components of plant and seed metabolic responses to abiotic stress, and it has proved to be a very important tool for the science and will continue making a contribution toward a better understanding of biological mechanisms that explain tolerance or susceptibility of plants and seeds to abiotic stress in the near future, which is being faced by increased climate changes.