Lipidomic Profiling of Argania spinosa L. (Skeels) Following Drought Stress

Argan tree is frequently constrained by environmental stresses, especially drought. Lipids play crucial roles in stress adaptation, but lipidomic profiles in Argania spinosa under drought stress is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to identify lipid components potentially responsive to drought stress from leaves in the four argan ecotypes. For this, non-polar metabolite profiling was carried out using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We identified 228 components, the majority of which belonged to fatty acids and prenol lipids classes. The principal component analysis and partial least-squares discriminant analysis were applied to the lipidomics data to determine the component changes between all ecotypes. Based on the common components present in all ecotypes under contrast conditions, 21 metabolites belong fatty acids were identified with significant change. It was concluded that the majority of these components show up-accumulation in their content and involve in different pathways, especially in alpha-linolenic acid metabolism. The findings of this study provided new insights into the lipidomic study of argan leaves under drought stress and may be eventually contribute to overcoming drought; in addition, this could serve as a base for future studies on transcriptomic and proteomic to enhance the drought tolerance of forest trees.