scholarly journals Melatonin Participates in Selenium-Enhanced Cold Tolerance of Cucumber Seedlings

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Yang ◽  
Kaining Sun ◽  
Xiao Wang ◽  
Kean Wang ◽  
Xianghua Kong ◽  
...  

Melatonin is an important and widespread plant hormone. However, the underlying physiological and molecular mechanisms of melatonin as a secondary messenger in improving cold tolerance by selenium are limited. This study investigated the effects of selenite on the cold stress of cucumber seedlings. The results showed that exogenous application of selenite improved the cold tolerance of cucumber seedlings, which was dependent on the concentration effect. In the present experiment, 1 μM of selenite showed the best effect on alleviating cold stress. Interestingly, we found that in the process of alleviating cold stress, selenite increased the content of endogenous melatonin by regulating the expression of melatonin biosynthesis genes (TDC, T5H, SNAT, and COMT). To determine the interrelation between selenite and melatonin in alleviating cold stress, melatonin synthesis inhibitor p-chlorophenylalanine and melatonin were used for in-depth study. This study provides a theoretical basis for cucumber cultivation and breeding.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiqing Feng ◽  
Xin Fu ◽  
Lujie Han ◽  
Chenxiao Xu ◽  
Chaoyue Liu ◽  
...  

Melatonin (MT) and nitric oxide (NO) are two multifunctional signaling molecules that are involved in the response of plants to abiotic stresses. However, how MT and NO synergize in response to cold stress affecting plants is still not clear. In this study, we found that endogenous MT accumulation under cold stress was positively correlated with cold tolerance in different varieties of cucumber seedlings. The data presented here also provide evidence that endogenous NO is involved in the response to cold stress. About 100 μM MT significantly increased the nitrate reductase (NR) activity, NR-relative messenger RNA (mRNA) expression, and endogenous NO accumulation in cucumber seedlings. However, 75 μM sodium nitroprusside (SNP, a NO donor) showed no significant effect on the relative mRNA expression of tryptophan decarboxylase (TDC), tryptamine-5-hydroxylase (T5H), serotonin-N-acetyltransferase (SNAT), or acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (ASMT), the key genes for MT synthesis and endogenous MT levels. Compared with H2O treatment, both MT and SNP decreased electrolyte leakage (EL), malondialdehyde (MDA), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation by activating the antioxidant system and consequently mitigated cold damage in cucumber seedlings. MT and SNP also enhanced photosynthetic carbon assimilation, which was mainly attributed to an increase in the activity and mRNA expression of the key enzymes in the Calvin–Benson cycle. Simultaneously, MT- and SNP-induced photoprotection for both photosystem II (PSII) and photosystem I (PSI) in cucumber seedlings, by stimulating the PsbA (D1) protein repair pathway and ferredoxin-mediated NADP+ photoreduction, respectively. Moreover, exogenous MT and SNP markedly upregulated the expression of chilling response genes, such as inducer of CBF expression (ICE1), C-repeat-binding factor (CBF1), and cold-responsive (COR47). MT-induced cold tolerance was suppressed by 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (cPTIO, a specific scavenger of NO). However, p-chlorophenylalanine (p-CPA, a MT synthesis inhibitor) did not affect NO-induced cold tolerance. Thus, novel results suggest that NO acts as a downstream signal in the MT-induced plant tolerance to cold stress.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Song ◽  
Fengxian Tang ◽  
Wenchao Cai ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
Fake Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: During the low temperature storage, cantaloupe is susceptible to the cold stress, resulting in the loss of edible and commercial quality. To ascertain the molecular mechanisms of cold tolerance in cantaloupe, cold-sensitive cultivar Goldqueen-308 (GE) and cold-tolerant cultivar Jiashi-310 (JS) were used for quantitative proteomic analysis with iTRAQ in parallel. Results: In this work, two commercial cultivars were treated at 0.5℃ for 0, 12 and 24 days. Phenotypes assays showed that GE suffered a more severe damage as the cold treatment time extended. Proteomic analysis revealed that the number of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) changed significantly over time in cold-exposed cantaloupe. Comparing with GE, JS responded in a prompter manner in terms of expressing cold-responding proteins during the similarly cold treatment. Furthermore, much more different groups of proteins were mobilized in response to the cold treatment in JS comparing with GE. Metabolic analysis indicated that more amino acids were up-regulated in JS during the early phases of cold stress. This study also identified some DEPs since they were up-regulated in JS or down-regulated in GE in terms of molecular mechanisms, which were mainly related to carbohydrate and energy metabolism, structure proteins, ROS scavening, amino acid metabolic and signaling transduction. Moreover, iTRAQ analysis was confirmed to be reliable via the results of phenotypes assays, metabolic analysis and q-PCR validation. Conclusion: By proteomics information,we found that the prompt response and the significant mobilization of proteins in JS maintained a higher level of cold tolerance, and the delay of cold response in GE could be a critical reason for the severe chilling injury. The candidate proteins we found will be the basis of future studies for further investigations and our findings may help to better understand the novel mechanisms of cold tolerance in cantaloupe.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. e0243292
Author(s):  
Wenbo Mi ◽  
Zigang Liu ◽  
Jiaojiao Jin ◽  
Xiaoyun Dong ◽  
Chunmei Xu ◽  
...  

Two winter rapeseed cultivars, “NS” (cold tolerant) and “NF” (cold sensitive), were used to reveal the morphological, physiological, and proteomic characteristics in leaves of plants after treatment at -4°C for 12 h(T1) and 24 h(T2), and at room temperature(T0), to understand the molecular mechanisms of cold tolerance. Antioxidant activity and osmotic adjustment ability were higher, and plasma membrane injury was less obvious, in NS than in NF under cold stress. We detected different abundant proteins (DAPs) related to cold tolerance in winter rapeseed through data-independent acquisition (DIA). Compared with NF, A total of 1,235 and 1,543 DAPs were identified in the NSs under T1 and T2, respectively. Compared with NF, 911 proteins were more abundant in NS only after cold treatment. Some of these proteins were related to ROS scavenging through four metabolic pathways: lysine degradation; phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan; flavonoid biosynthesis; and ubiquinone and other terpenoid-quinone biosynthesis. Analysis of these proteins in the four candidate pathways revealed that they were rapidly accumulated to quickly enhance ROS scavenging and improve the cold tolerance of NS. These proteins were noticeably more abundant during the early stage of cold stress, which was critical for avoiding ROS damage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (24) ◽  
pp. 13229
Author(s):  
Xiaowei Zhang ◽  
Xin Fu ◽  
Fengjiao Liu ◽  
Yanan Wang ◽  
Huangai Bi ◽  
...  

As an important gas signaling molecule, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) plays a crucial role in regulating cold tolerance. H2S cooperates with phytohormones such as abscisic acid, ethylene, and salicylic acid to regulate the plant stress response. However, the synergistic regulation of H2S and auxin in the plant response to cold stress has not been reported. This study showed that sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS, an H2S donor) treatment enhanced the cold stress tolerance of cucumber seedlings and increased the level of auxin. CsARF5, a cucumber auxin response factor (ARF) gene, was isolated, and its role in regulating H2S-mediated cold stress tolerance was described. Transgenic cucumber leaves overexpressing CsARF5 were obtained. Physiological analysis indicated that overexpression of CsARF5 enhanced the cold stress tolerance of cucumber and the regulation of the cold stress response by CsARF5 depends on H2S. In addition, molecular assays showed that CsARF5 modulated cold stress response by directly activating the expression of the dehydration-responsive element-binding (DREB)/C-repeat binding factor (CBF) gene CsDREB3, which was identified as a positive regulator of cold stress. Taken together, the above results suggest that CsARF5 plays an important role in H2S-mediated cold stress in cucumber. These results shed light on the molecular mechanism by which H2S regulates cold stress response by mediating auxin signaling; this will provide insights for further studies on the molecular mechanism by which H2S regulates cold stress. The aim of this study was to explore the molecular mechanism of H2S regulating cold tolerance of cucumber seedlings and provide a theoretical basis for the further study of cucumber cultivation and environmental adaptability technology in winter.


AoB Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Cai ◽  
Richard Odongo Magwanga ◽  
Yanchao Xu ◽  
Zhongli Zhou ◽  
Xingxing Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Low temperature is one of the key environmental stresses that impair plant growth and significantly restricts the productivity and spatial distribution of crop plants. Gossypium thurberi, a wild diploid cotton species, has adapted to a wide range of temperatures and exhibits a better tolerance to chilling stress. Here, we compared phenotypes and physiochemical changes in G. thurberi under cold stress and found this species indeed showed better cold tolerance. Therefore, to understand the molecular mechanisms of the cold tolerance in G. thurberi, we compared transcription changes in leaves of G. thurberi under cold stress by high-throughput transcriptome sequencing. In total, 35 617 unigenes were identified in the whole-genome transcription profile, and 4226 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were discovered in the leaves upon cold treatment. Gene Ontology (GO) classification analyses showed that the majority of DEGs belonged to categories of signal transduction, transcription factors (TFs) and carbohydrate transport and metabolism. The expression of several cold-responsive genes such as ICE1, CBF4, RAP2-7 and abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis genes involved in different signalling pathways were induced after G. thurberi seedlings were exposed to cold stress. Furthermore, cold sensitivity was increased in CBF4 and ICE2 virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) plants, and high level of malondialdehyde (MDA) showed that the CBF4 and ICE2 silenced plants were under oxidative stress compared to their wild types, which relatively had higher levels of antioxidant enzyme activity, as evident by high levels of proline and superoxide dismutase (SOD) content. In conclusion, our findings reveal a new regulatory network of cold stress response in G. thurberi and broaden our understanding of the cold tolerance mechanism in cotton, which might accelerate functional genomics studies and genetic improvement for cold stress tolerance in cultivated cotton.


Horticulturae ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 572
Author(s):  
Faisal Hayat ◽  
Chengdong Ma ◽  
Shahid Iqbal ◽  
Xiao Huang ◽  
Ouma Kenneth Omondi ◽  
...  

Japanese apricot (Prunus mume) is remarkably valuable for its high ornamental and economic importance due to its distinctive features. Low temperature is a serious environmental constraint for this species, restricting its cultivation and dispersal in the north of China. To address this issue, breeding requires an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying responses to cold stress. We examined the leaf physiological and transcriptome profile by RNA sequencing in ‘Bungo’ scion cultivar grafted onto Prunus mume (cold-sensitive) and Prunus armeniaca (cold-tolerant) rootstocks at 4 °C for 0, 6, and 24 h. Our results revealed that the increased MDA concentration in the leaves of P. mume cultivar (cold-sensitive) suggests that cold stress might cause oxidative damage and increased sensitivity. Moreover, the cold-tolerant cultivar (P. armeniaca) considerably enhances the enzyme activities (i.e., SOD, POD, and CAT), as well as osmo-protectants (soluble sugars and proline) compared with sensitive cultivar, which helps plants to withstand oxidative damage caused by cold stress. Additionally, differentially expressed genes were shown to be enriched in plant hormone signal transduction, ribosome, MAPK signaling, and circadian rhythm pathway. After 24 h of cold stress, genes related to PYL4, histidine kinase 1, SAUR36, bHLH130, bHLH123, TIFY 6B-like, WRKY 40, WRKY 57, and 60S acidic ribosomal protein P1 were differentially expressed, implying that these DEGs involved in multiple pathways are involved in cold tolerance in Japanese apricot. This study improved our current understanding of the mechanism of cold tolerance in Japanese apricot, and the findings could be utilized for other related fruit species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 1673
Author(s):  
Seung Woon Bang ◽  
Ho Suk Lee ◽  
Su-Hyun Park ◽  
Dong-Keun Lee ◽  
Jun Sung Seo ◽  
...  

Chloroplast ribonucleoproteins (cpRNPs) are nuclear-encoded and highly abundant proteins that are proposed to function in chloroplast RNA metabolism. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of chloroplast RNAs involved in stress tolerance are poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that CHLOROPLAST RNA-BINDING PROTEIN 1 (OsCRP1), a rice (Oryza sativa) cpRNP gene, is essential for stabilization of RNAs from the NAD(P)H dehydrogenase (NDH) complex, which in turn enhances drought and cold stress tolerance. An RNA-immunoprecipitation assay revealed that OsCRP1 is associated with a set of chloroplast RNAs. Transcript profiling indicated that the mRNA levels of genes from the NDH complex significantly increased in the OsCRP1 overexpressing compared to non-transgenic plants, whereas the pattern in OsCRP1 RNAi plants were opposite. Importantly, the OsCRP1 overexpressing plants showed a higher cyclic electron transport (CET) activity, which is essential for elevated levels of ATP for photosynthesis. Additionally, overexpression of OsCRP1 resulted in significantly enhanced drought and cold stress tolerance with higher ATP levels compared to wild type. Thus, our findings suggest that overexpression of OsCRP1 stabilizes a set of mRNAs from genes of the NDH complex involved in increasing CET activity and production of ATP, which consequently confers enhanced drought and cold tolerance.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Song ◽  
Fengxian Tang ◽  
Wenchao Cai ◽  
Qin Zhang ◽  
Fake Zhou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: During the low temperature storage, cantaloupe is susceptible to the cold stress, resulting in the loss of edible and commercial quality. To ascertain the molecular mechanisms of cold tolerance in cantaloupe, cold-sensitive cultivar Goldqueen-308 (GE) and cold-tolerant cultivar Jiashi-310 (JS) were used for quantitative proteomic analysis with iTRAQ in parallel. Results: In this work, two commercial cultivars were treated at 0.5℃ for 0, 12 and 24 days. Phenotypes assays showed that GE suffered a more severe damage as the cold treatment time extended. Proteomic analysis revealed that the number of differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) changed significantly over time in cold-exposed cantaloupe. Comparing with GE, JS responded in a prompter manner in terms of expressing cold-responding proteins during the similarly cold treatment. Furthermore, much more different groups of proteins were mobilized in response to the cold treatment in JS comparing with GE. Metabolic analysis indicated that more amino acids were up-regulated in JS during the early phases of cold stress. This study also identified some DEPs since they were up-regulated in JS or down-regulated in GE in terms of molecular mechanisms, which were mainly related to carbohydrate and energy metabolism, structure proteins, ROS scavening, amino acid metabolic and signaling transduction. Moreover, iTRAQ analysis was confirmed to be reliable via the results of phenotypes assays, metabolic analysis and q-PCR validation. Conclusion: By proteomics information,we found that the prompt response and the significant mobilization of proteins in JS maintained a higher level of cold tolerance, and the delay of cold response in GE could be a critical reason for the severe chilling injury. The candidate proteins we found will be the basis of future studies for further investigations and our findings may help to better understand the novel mechanisms of cold tolerance in cantaloupe.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Russel J Reiter ◽  
Sergio Rosales-Corral ◽  
Ramaswamy Sharma

     Low back pain (lumbar pain) due to injury of or damage to intervertebral discs is common in all societies.  The loss of work time as a result of this problem is massive.  Recent research suggests that melatonin may prevent or counteract intervertebral disc damage. This may be especially relevant in aging populations given that endogenous melatonin, in most individuals, dwindles with increasing age. The publications related to melatonin and its protection of the intervertebral disc are reviewed herein, including definition of some molecular mechanisms that account for melatonin’s protective actions. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luomiao Yang ◽  
Jingguo Wang ◽  
Zhenghong Han ◽  
Lei Lei ◽  
Hua Long Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cold stress caused by low temperatures is an important factor restricting rice production. Identification of cold-tolerance genes that can stably express in cold environments is crucial for molecular rice breeding. Results In this study, we employed high-throughput quantitative trait locus sequencing (QTL-seq) analyses in a 460-individual F2:3 mapping population to identify major QTL genomic regions governing cold tolerance at the seedling stage in rice. A novel major QTL (qCTS6) controlling the survival rate (SR) under low-temperature conditions of 9°C/10 days was mapped on the 2.60-Mb interval on chromosome 6. Twenty-seven single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers were designed for the qCST6 region based on re-sequencing data, and local QTL mapping was conducted using traditional linkage analysis. Eventually, we mapped qCTS6 to a 96.6-kb region containing 13 annotated genes, of which seven predicted genes contained 13 non-synonymous SNP loci. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR analysis revealed that only Os06g0719500, an OsbZIP54 transcription factor, was strongly induced by cold stress. Haplotype analysis confirmed that +376 bp (T>A) in the OsbZIP54 coding region played a key role in regulating cold tolerance in rice. Conclusion We identified OsbZIP54 as a novel regulatory gene associated with rice cold-responsive traits, with its Dongfu-104 allele showing specific cold-induction expression serving as an important molecular variation for rice improvement. This result is expected to further exploration of the genetic mechanism of rice cold tolerance at the seedling stage and improve cold tolerance in rice varieties by marker-assisted selection.


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