Differential oxidative stress homeostasis in two burley tobacco varieties is linked to different peroxisomal glycolate oxidase levels

Previous analyses of burley tobacco varieties KT 204LC and NCBH 129LC revealed that NCBH 129LC has a higher oxidative stress tolerance level and accumulates more hydrogen peroxide. We conducted untargeted metabolomics analyses to deepen our understanding of these varietal differences in redox status, and here, we show that KT 204LC and NCBH 129LC significantly differ in lipid metabolism, with NCBH 129LC containing more lipids than KT 204LC. Considering that NCBH 129LC also has more hydrogen peroxide and that peroxisomes play a major role in hydrogen peroxide production and lipid metabolism, we next analyzed peroxisomal markers. Glycolate oxidase, the key photorespiratory enzyme and a significant producer of hydrogen peroxide, accumulated significantly higher in NCBH 129LC. Our data suggest that differences in the oxidative stress status of burley varieties KT 204LC and NCBH 129LC are – at least partially - caused by different peroxisomal activities of the two varieties.