biostudies-literatureUnknown13(1)Zhao FBoth genetic improvement and the application of N fertilizer increase the quality and yields of wheat. However, the molecular kinetics that underlies the differences between them are not well understood. In this study, we performed a non-targeted metabolomic analysis on wheat cultivars from different release years to comprehensively investigate the metabolic differences between cultivar and N treatments. The results revealed that the plant height and tiller number steadily decreased with increased ears numbers, whereas the grain number and weight increased with genetic improvement. Following the addition of N fertilizer, the panicle numbers and grain weights increased in an old cultivar, whereas the panicle number and grain number per panicle increased in a modern cultivar. For the 1950s to 2010s cultivar, the yield increases due to genetic improvements ranged from -1.9% to 96.7%, whereas that of N application ranged from 19.1% to 81.6%. Based on the untargeted metabolomics approach, the findings demonstrated that genetic improvements induced 1.4 to 7.4 times more metabolic alterations than N fertilizer supply. After the addition of N, 69.6%, 29.4%, and 33.3% of the differential metabolites were upregulated in the 1950s, 1980s, and 2010s cultivars, respectively. The results of metabolic pathway analysis of the identified differential metabolites via genetic improvement indicated enrichment in 1-2 KEGG pathways, whereas the application of N fertilizer enriched 2-4 pathways. Our results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms of wheat quality and grain yield developments.Metabolites107https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9862063biostudies-literatureMetabolite Profiling of Wheat Response to Cultivar Improvement and Nitrogen Fertilizer.PMC9862063Hu JShi SZhang HZhao FWang YYe YfalseMetabolite Profiling of Wheat Response to Cultivar Improvement and Nitrogen Fertilizer.Both genetic improvement and the application of N fertilizer increase the quality and yields of wheat. However, the molecular kinetics that underlies the differences between them are not well understood. In this study, we performed a non-targeted metabolomic analysis on wheat cultivars from different release years to comprehensively investigate the metabolic differences between cultivar and N treatments. The results revealed that the plant height and tiller number steadily decreased with increased ears numbers, whereas the grain number and weight increased with genetic improvement. Following the addition of N fertilizer, the panicle numbers and grain weights increased in an old cultivar, whereas the panicle number and grain number per panicle increased in a modern cultivar. For the 1950s to 2010s cultivar, the yield increases due to genetic improvements ranged from -1.9% to 96.7%, whereas that of N application ranged from 19.1% to 81.6%. Based on the untargeted metabolomics approach, the findings demonstrated that genetic improvements induced 1.4 to 7.4 times more metabolic alterations than N fertilizer supply. After the addition of N, 69.6%, 29.4%, and 33.3% of the differential metabolites were upregulated in the 1950s, 1980s, and 2010s cultivars, respectively. The results of metabolic pathway analysis of the identified differential metabolites via genetic improvement indicated enrichment in 1-2 KEGG pathways, whereas the application of N fertilizer enriched 2-4 pathways. Our results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms of wheat quality and grain yield developments.2023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Jan2025-04-22T01:06:42.872Z2025-04-05T19:52:05.179ZS-EPMC98620633667703210.3390/metabo13010107