Detalle de: Tissue-Specific Lipidomic Alterations in Carrot Plants Following Sublethal Exposure to a Glyphosate-Based Herbicide

Glyphosate-based herbicides are widely used in agriculture. However, their broader effects on plant lipid metabolism remain insufficiently characterized beyond their canonical target, the shikimate pathway. In this study, we evaluated tissue-specific lipidomic responses of carrot (Daucus carota L.) plants grown under controlled conditions following sublethal foliar exposure to a commercial glyphosate-based herbicide formulation. Leaves, leaf stalks, and roots were harvested 30 days after application, and lipid extracts were analyzed using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Multivariate statistical analyses were applied to assess treatment-related differences. Morphological parameters showed no major visible symptoms, although minor changes in shoot architecture were observed. Untargeted lipidomic profiling revealed treatment-associated, tissue-specific alterations in lipid composition. In leaves, changes were detected in free fatty acids, tocopherols, and galactolipids, whereas leaf stalks and storage roots showed alterations mainly affecting phospholipid and glycerolipid classes. In summary, lipid profiles indicated shifts in the relative abundance of membrane- and storage-related lipid species. These results suggest that sublethal exposure to a glyphosate-based herbicide formulation may be associated with measurable lipidomic differences in carrot tissues, highlighting the sensitivity of untargeted lipidomic profiling for detecting metabolic responses to agrochemical exposure.