Zea Lip: An atlas of glycerolipid profiles across leaf development in maize

A comprehensive glycerolipid atlas in maize shows that genotype and leaf number are the major drivers of lipid profile differences across four developmental stages.

• Why it matters: Lipid composition shifts with development and stress, but maize-specific, tissue-resolved glycerolipid maps are needed to interpret how membrane lipids vary across genotypes and leaf positions.
• What they did: Using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, the study profiled three maize genotypes (B73, CML312, Palomero Toluqueno) across 4 developmental stages and 6 leaves, plus base/center/tip zones in one stage.
• The result: Phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylcholine, and triacylglycerol differences were particularly high, enabling browsing and comparison via an eFP browser integrated into the maize genome browser and a separate web interface.