Skip to content Skip to navigation
UMass Collegiate M The University of Massachusetts Amherst
  • Visit
  • Apply
  • Give
  • Search UMass.edu
Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment

Integrating research and outreach education from UMass Amherst

  • About
    • Overview of CAFE
    • Be Ambitious!
    • History
    • Strategic Directions
    • Research & Outreach Interest Areas
    • UMass Extension Board of Public Overseers (BoPO)
    • Partners
    • Locations
    • Faculty & Staff Directory
    • Contact Information
    • Civil Rights Information
    • Employment Opportunities
  • Extension
    • Extension Outreach Overview
    • UMass Extension In Your Community
    • CAFE Extension Faculty
    • Extension Outreach Projects
    • Extension Initiative Reports
  • Programs
    • Extension Programs Overview
    • 4-H Youth Development
    • Clean Energy Extension
    • Climate Change
    • Cranberry Station
    • Crops, Dairy, Livestock and Equine
    • Food Science Extension
    • Fruit
    • Greenhouse Crops and Floriculture
    • Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry
    • Nutrition Education
    • Turf
    • Value-Added Food
    • Vegetable
  • Research
    • Mass Agricultural Experiment Station
    • Information About Accessing Research Funds
    • Research Projects
    • NIFA Integrated Research and Outreach Initiatives
    • Civil Rights Information & Resources
    • Summer Scholars Program
    • REEU Internship Program
  • Resources
    • Resources Overview
    • Interest Areas
    • Extension Sales Portal
    • Agriculture & Commercial Horticulture
    • Community & Economic Vitality
    • Disaster Preparedness
    • Food Safety
    • Home Lawn & Garden
    • Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
    • Land Conservation Tools
    • Pollinators
    • Tick Testing Resources
    • Urban Agriculture
  • Services
    • Services Overview
    • Pesticide Education
    • Plant Diagnostics Laboratory
    • Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Laboratory
    • Hot Water Seed Treatment
    • Environmental Analysis Laboratory
  • Farms
    • Farms and Facilities Overview
    • Cold Spring Orchard Research and Education Center
    • Cranberry Station
    • Crop and Animal Research and Education Farm
    • Equine and Livestock Research and Education Farm in Hadley
    • Joseph Troll Turf Research Center
  • News & Events
    • Center News
    • Upcoming Events
    • News from the Media
    • Faculty/Staff Brief Bios
    • Spotlight Stories
    • Video Gallery

Defining the Role of Terpenes to Abiotic Stress in Medicago truncatula

Principle Investigator/Project Leader:
Sbongile Mafu
Sponsoring Unit(s): Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station
Department of Project: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Dept.
Project Description

Legumes are important agricultural and feed crops second only to cereal crops. Grain legumes such as chickpea, lentils and the common bean provide 33 % of human dietary protein and up to 60 % in developing countries (Gentzbittel et al. 2015). Soybeans and alfalfa are important for animal feed and fodder as well as intercropping systems because of their ability to fix nitrogen. Because of their agronomic, nutritional and environmental benefits, it is imperative to understand factors that may influence agricultural yield and/or quality of feed.

Plants produce a diverse array of specialized metabolites to ensure adaptation to their ecological niche by functioning in pollinator attraction, herbivore repellence and pathogen resistance (Gershenzon and Dudareva 2007). Terpenes, a major class of specialized metabolites, play an important role in gene-by-environment interactions as shown in crops like rice and maize (Murphy and Zerbe 2020).

Terpenes have been well described in their response to biotic factors. However, comparatively fewer investigations have been performed for abiotic stress. In the changing face of climate, where heat, nutrients, and water all become important factors influencing agricultural productivity and food security, it is essential to understand the chemical response strategy employed in response to abiotic stressors. In this proposal, we will investigate the chemical response strategy (focusing on the terpenome) of Medicago truncatula to select abiotic conditions.

Our long-term goal is to understand how terpenes coordinate chemical responses to the environment. The objective of this research proposal is to study the influence of terpenes to abiotic stress response in M. truncatula.  Our central hypothesis, based on literature and our preliminary data, indicates that M. truncatula responds with distinct chemical signatures in response to abiotic stress. A central challenge is deciphering the complex transcriptional metabolic changes in response to environmental stress. We will accomplish the objectives of this proposal through the following specific aims:

Goal 1: Develop a terpene-based abiotic stress marker. Our preliminary data shows a terpene synthase, that produces germacrene-D-4-ol, highly upregulated under various abiotic stress conditions. We will perform a functional biochemical analysis of the pathway towards de novo pathway elucidation and structural determination by NMR of intermediate compounds.

 

Goal 2: Assessing the response of terpenes to abiotic stress. We will define the importance of the physiological role of terpene synthases in response to select abiotic conditions (water, salt and nutrients) guided by the preliminary data.

 

Outcomes and Impacts: The investigations proposed here represent essential steps towards deciphering the gene-to-metabolite relationship of M. truncatula and a fuller understanding of the reconfiguration of plant metabolism with a focus on the terpenome in response to abiotic stress. We anticipate that knowledge of stress response strategies will provide fundamental information to further investigations of metabolism-based mechanistic responses. The foundational information gained will inform molecular breeding efforts in agriculturally relevant legume crops due to rapidly altering climate conditions. The project establishes a pipeline that can be used to investigate other legumes of economic relevance and data for obtaining federal research support.

Target Audience: The work is designed for undergraduates under the guidance of a graduate student/postdoctoral research associate. This enables us to train and expose undergraduates to a range of techniques including analytical chemistry, protein biochemistry, molecular biology bioinformatics and plant physiology. We anticipate our efforts will contribute to the retention of students in STEM, in particular chemical sciences and contribute to the development of skilled personnel to bioeconomy.

Research

  • Mass Agricultural Experiment Station
  • Information About Accessing Research Funds
  • Research Projects
  • NIFA Integrated Research and Outreach Initiatives
  • Civil Rights Information & Resources
  • Summer Scholars Program
  • REEU Internship Program

Center for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment

 

Stockbridge Hall,
80 Campus Center Way
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003-9246
Phone: (413) 545-4800
Fax: (413) 545-6555
ag [at] cns [dot] umass [dot] edu (ag[at]cns[dot]umass[dot]edu)

 

Civil Rights and Non-Discrimination Information

College of Natural Sciences

Login for faculty and staff

CAFE Units

Mass. Agricultural Experiment Station

UMass Extension

UMass Research and Education Center Farms

UMass Cranberry Station

Water Resources Research Center

Interest Areas

Agriculture

Commercial Horticulture

Energy

Environmental Conservation

Food Science

Nutrition

Water

Youth Development & 4-H

Services

Pesticide Education

Plant Diagnostics Laboratory

Soil and Plant Nutrient Testing Laboratory

Hot Water Seed Treatment

Water Testing / Environmental Analysis Laboratory

Projects

Conservation Assessment Prioritization System (CAPS)

Extension Risk Management/Crop Insurance Education

Mass. Envirothon

Mass. Herp Atlas

Mass. Keystone

MassWoods

North American Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative

RiverSmart

UMass Design Center in Springfield

Resources

Extension Sales Portal

Agriculture & Commercial Horticulture Resources

Community & Economic Vitality

Disaster Preparedness

Food Safety

Home Lawn & Garden

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Land Conservation Tools

Pollinators

Tick testing

Resources for Faculty and Staff

Extension Programs

4-H Youth Development

Agriculture

Crops, Dairy, Livestock and Equine

Fruit

Greenhouse Crops and Floriculture

Landscape, Nursery and Urban Forestry

Pesticide Education

Turf

Vegetable

Clean Energy

Climate Change

Food Science

Nutrition Education

Value-Added Food

Seal of The University of Massachusetts Amherst - 1863
©2025 University of Massachusetts Amherst · Site Policies · Accessibility