scholarly journals Transcriptional Regulation in Rocket Leaves as Affected by Salinity

Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Franzoni ◽  
Giacomo Cocetta ◽  
Alice Trivellini ◽  
Antonio Ferrante

Salinity is one of the major abiotic stress causing yield losses and decreasing product quality. The beneficial effects of biostimulant products to enhance plant tolerance to abiotic stresses have been reported in several crops, but their mode of action is poorly understood. This work aims to better understand the effect of salt stress on wild rocket treated with a borage extract. The expression of some of the transcription factors (TFs) typically involved in salt stress response was studied within a 24 h period. Physiological parameters such as chlorophyll, chlorophyll a fluorescence, carotenoids, phenols, and anthocyanin were analyzed. Results obtained showed that salt stress induced a general increase in the expression levels of almost all TFs studied, whereas the treatment with the plant-base extract only induced an increase at specific time points. Moreover, the approach adopted allowed indagating the change in gene expression during time. Different pathways such as sugars metabolism, cuticular wax biosynthesis, and brassinosteroids signaling took part in plant responses.

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingjing Chang ◽  
Yanliang Guo ◽  
Jingyi Yan ◽  
Zixing Zhang ◽  
Li Yuan ◽  
...  

AbstractMelatonin is a pleiotropic signaling molecule that regulates plant growth and responses to various abiotic stresses. The last step of melatonin synthesis in plants can be catalyzed by caffeic acid O-methyltransferase (COMT), a multifunctional enzyme reported to have N-acetylserotonin O-methyltransferase (ASMT) activity; however, the ASMT activity of COMT has not yet been characterized in nonmodel plants such as watermelon (Citrullus lanatus). Here, a total of 16 putative O-methyltransferase (ClOMT) genes were identified in watermelon. Among them, ClOMT03 (Cla97C07G144540) was considered a potential COMT gene (renamed ClCOMT1) based on its high identities (60.00–74.93%) to known COMT genes involved in melatonin biosynthesis, expression in almost all tissues, and upregulation under abiotic stresses. The ClCOMT1 protein was localized in the cytoplasm. Overexpression of ClCOMT1 significantly increased melatonin contents, while ClCOMT1 knockout using the CRISPR/Cas-9 system decreased melatonin contents in watermelon calli. These results suggest that ClCOMT1 plays an essential role in melatonin biosynthesis in watermelon. In addition, ClCOMT1 expression in watermelon was upregulated by cold, drought, and salt stress, accompanied by increases in melatonin contents. Overexpression of ClCOMT1 enhanced transgenic Arabidopsis tolerance against such abiotic stresses, indicating that ClCOMT1 is a positive regulator of plant tolerance to abiotic stresses.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 3519 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agustina Bernal-Vicente ◽  
Daniel Cantabella ◽  
Cesar Petri ◽  
José Hernández ◽  
Pedro Diaz-Vivancos

Salinity is considered as one of the most important abiotic challenges that affect crop productivity. Plant hormones, including salicylic acid (SA), are key factors in the defence signalling output triggered during plant responses against environmental stresses. We have previously reported in peach a new SA biosynthetic pathway from mandelonitrile (MD), the molecule at the hub of the cyanogenic glucoside turnover in Prunus sp. In this work, we have studied whether this new SA biosynthetic pathway is also present in plum and the possible role this pathway plays in plant plasticity under salinity, focusing on the transgenic plum line J8-1, which displays stress tolerance via an enhanced antioxidant capacity. The SA biosynthesis from MD in non-transgenic and J8-1 micropropagated plum shoots was studied by metabolomics. Then the response of J8-1 to salt stress in presence of MD or Phe (MD precursor) was assayed by measuring: chlorophyll content and fluorescence parameters, stress related hormones, levels of non-enzymatic antioxidants, the expression of two genes coding redox-related proteins, and the content of soluble nutrients. The results from in vitro assays suggest that the SA synthesis from the MD pathway demonstrated in peach is not clearly present in plum, at least under the tested conditions. Nevertheless, in J8-1 NaCl-stressed seedlings, an increase in SA was recorded as a result of the MD treatment, suggesting that MD could be involved in the SA biosynthesis under NaCl stress conditions in plum plants. We have also shown that the plum line J8-1 was tolerant to NaCl under greenhouse conditions, and this response was quite similar in MD-treated plants. Nevertheless, the MD treatment produced an increase in SA, jasmonic acid (JA) and reduced ascorbate (ASC) contents, as well as in the coefficient of non-photochemical quenching (qN) and the gene expression of Non-Expressor of Pathogenesis-Related 1 (NPR1) and thioredoxin H (TrxH) under salinity conditions. This response suggested a crosstalk between different signalling pathways (NPR1/Trx and SA/JA) leading to salinity tolerance in the transgenic plum line J8-1.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
liang xu ◽  
Jia-Qian Song ◽  
yuelin wang ◽  
Xiao-Han Liu ◽  
Xue-Li Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Plants have evolved a lot of strategies to improve salt tolerance to cope with salt stress. Recent studies have suggested that thymol (a nature medicine) enhances the plant tolerance against abiotic stresses, but the mechanisms are rarely known. Here, we found that thymol played an important role in maintaining root growth under salt stress. Thymol rescued root growth from salt stress via ameliorating ROS (reactive oxygen species) accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and cell death. In addition, thymol enhanced the level of NO (nitric oxide) and GSH (glutathione) to repress ROS accumulation, further protecting the stability of cell membrane. Thymol-induced Na+ efflux in roots and leaves under salt stress may depend on the upregulation of SOS1, HKT1 and NHX1. Consequently, all of these evidences suggested that thymol improved tobacco salt tolerance via enhancing NO and GSH content as well as inducing Na+ efflux.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
liang xu ◽  
Jia-Qian Song ◽  
yuelin wang ◽  
Xiao-Han Liu ◽  
Xue-Li Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Plants have evolved a lot of strategies to improve salt tolerance to cope with salt stress. Recent studies have suggested that thymol (a nature medicine) enhances the plant tolerance against abiotic stresses, but the mechanisms are rarely known. Here, we found that thymol played an important role in maintaining root growth under salt stress. Thymol rescued root growth from salt stress via ameliorating ROS (reactive oxygen species) accumulation, lipid peroxidation, and cell death. In addition, thymol enhanced the level of NO (nitric oxide) and GSH (glutathione) to repress ROS accumulation, further protecting the stability of cell membrane. Thymol-induced Na+ efflux in roots and leaves under salt stress may depend on the upregulation of SOS1, HKT1 and NHX1. Consequently, all of these evidences suggested that thymol improved tobacco salt tolerance via enhancing NO and GSH content as well as inducing Na+ efflux.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirella Sorrentino ◽  
Nuria De Diego ◽  
Lydia Ugena ◽  
Lukáš Spíchal ◽  
Luigi Lucini ◽  
...  

The use of plant biostimulants contributes to more sustainable and environmentally friendly farming techniques and offers a sustainable alternative to mitigate the adverse effects of stress. Protein hydrolysate-based biostimulants have been described to promote plant growth and reduce the negative effect of abiotic stresses in different crops. However, limited information is available about their mechanism of action, how plants perceive their application, and which metabolic pathways are activating. Here we used a multi-trait high-throughput screening approach based on simple RGB imaging and combined with untargeted metabolomics to screen and unravel the mode of action/mechanism of protein hydrolysates in Arabidopsis plants grown in optimal and in salt-stress conditions (0, 75, or 150 mM NaCl). Eleven protein hydrolysates from different protein sources were used as priming agents in Arabidopsis seeds in three different concentrations (0.001, 0.01, or 0.1 μl ml–1). Growth and development-related traits as early seedling establishment, growth response under stress and photosynthetic performance of the plants were dynamically scored throughout and at the end of the growth period. To effectively classify the functional properties of the 11 products a Plant Biostimulant Characterization (PBC) index was used, which helped to characterize the activity of a protein hydrolysate based on its ability to promote plant growth and mitigate stress, and to categorize the products as plant growth promoters, growth inhibitors and/or stress alleviator. Out of 11 products, two were identified as highly effective growth regulators and stress alleviators because they showed a PBC index always above 0.51. Using the untargeted metabolomics approach, we showed that plants primed with these best performing biostimulants had reduced contents of stress-related molecules (such as flavonoids and terpenoids, and some degradation/conjugation compounds of phytohormones such as cytokinins, auxins, gibberellins, etc.), which alleviated the salt stress response-related growth inhibition.


Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shupei Rao ◽  
Chao Du ◽  
Aijia Li ◽  
Xinli Xia ◽  
Weilun Yin ◽  
...  

Populus euphratica Oliv. is a model tree for studying abiotic stress, especially salt stress response. Salt stress is one of the most extensive abiotic stresses, which has an adverse effect on plant growth and development. Salicylic acid (SA) is an important signaling molecule that plays an important role in modulating the plant responses to abiotic stresses. To answer whether the endogenous SA can be induced by salt stress, and whether SA effectively alleviates the negative effects of salt on poplar growth is the main purpose of the study. To elucidate the effects of SA and salt stress on the growth of P. euphratica, we examined the morphological and physiological changes of P. euphratica under 300 mM NaCl after treatment with different concentrations of SA. A pretreatment of P. euphratica with 0.4 mM SA for 3 days effectively improved the growth status of plants under subsequent salt stress. These results indicate that appropriate concentrations of exogenous SA can effectively counteract the negative effect of salt stress on growth and development. Subsequently, transcripts involved in salt stress response via SA signaling were captured by RNA sequencing. The results indicated that numerous specific genes encoding mitogen-activated protein kinase, calcium-dependent protein kinase, and antioxidant enzymes were upregulated. Potassium transporters and Na+/H+ antiporters, which maintain K+/Na+ balance, were also upregulated after SA pretreatment. The transcriptome changes show that the ion transport and antioxidant enzymes were the early enhanced systems in response of P. euphratica to salt via SA, expanding our knowledge about SA function in salt stress defense in P. euphratica. This provides a solid foundation for future study of functional genes controlling effective components in metabolic pathways of trees.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youngdae Yoon ◽  
Deok Hyun Seo ◽  
Hoyoon Shin ◽  
Hui Jin Kim ◽  
Chul Min Kim ◽  
...  

Abiotic stresses, such as drought, high temperature, and salinity, affect plant growth and productivity. Furthermore, global climate change may increase the frequency and severity of abiotic stresses, suggesting that development of varieties with improved stress tolerance is critical for future sustainable crop production. Improving stress tolerance requires a detailed understanding of the hormone signaling and transcriptional pathways involved in stress responses. Abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) are key stress-response hormones in plants, and some stress-responsive transcription factors such as ABFs and MYCs function as direct components of ABA and JA signaling, playing a pivotal role in plant tolerance to abiotic stress. In addition, extensive studies have identified other stress-responsive transcription factors belonging to the NAC, AP2/ERF, MYB, and WRKY families that mediate plant response and tolerance to abiotic stress. These suggest that transcriptional regulation of stress-responsive genes is an essential step to determine the mechanisms underlying plant stress responses and tolerance to abiotic stress, and that these transcription factors may be important targets for development of crops with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance. In this review, we briefly describe the mechanisms underlying plant abiotic stress responses, focusing on ABA and JA metabolism and signaling pathways. We then summarize the diverse array of transcription factors involved in plant responses to abiotic stress, while noting their potential applications for improvement of stress tolerance.


Author(s):  
Agustina Bernal-Vicente ◽  
Daniel Cantabella ◽  
Cesar Petri ◽  
Jose Antonio Hernández ◽  
Pedro Díaz-Vivancos

Salinity is considered as one of the most important abiotic challenges that affect crop productivity. Plant hormones, including salicylic acid (SA), are key factors in the defence signalling output triggered during plant responses against environmental stresses. We have previously reported in peach a new SA biosynthetic pathway from mandelonitrile (MD), the molecule at the hub of the cyanogenic glucoside turnover in Prunus sp. In this work, we have studied whether this new SA biosynthetic pathway is also present in plum and the possible role this pathway plays in plant plasticity under salinity, focusing on the transgenic plum line J8-1, which displays stress tolerance via an enhanced antioxidant capacity. The SA biosynthesis from MD in non-transgenic and J8-1 micropropagated plum shoots was studied by metabolomics. Then the response of J8-1 to salt stress in presence of MD or Phe (MD precursor) was assayed by measuring: chlorophyll content and fluorescence parameters, stress related hormones, levels of non-enzymatic antioxidants, the expression of two genes coding redox-related proteins, and the content of soluble nutrients. The results from in vitro assays suggest that the SA synthesis from the MD pathway demonstrated in peach is not clearly present in plum, at least under in vitro conditions. Nevertheless, in J8-1 NaCl-stressed seedlings, an increase in SA was recorded as a result of the MD treatment, suggesting that MD could be involved in the SA biosynthesis under NaCl stress conditions in plum plants. We have also shown that the plum line J8-1 was tolerant to NaCl under greenhouse conditions, and this response was somewhat different in MD-treated plants. In that regards, the MD treatment produced an increase in SA, jasmonic acid (JA) and reduced ascorbate (ASC) contents as well as in the coefficient of non-photochemical quenching (qN) and the gene expression of Non-Expressor of Pathogenesis-Related 1 (NPR1) and thioredoxin H (TrxH) under salinity conditions, suggesting a crosstalk between different signalling pathways (NPR1/Trx and SA/JA) leading to salinity tolerance in the transgenic plum line J8-1.


Agronomy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Poveda

Both drought and salinity represent the greatest plant abiotic stresses in crops. Increasing plant tolerance against these environmental conditions must be a key strategy in the development of future agriculture. The genus of Trichoderma filament fungi includes several species widely used as biocontrol agents for plant diseases but also some with the ability to increase plant tolerance against abiotic stresses. In this sense, using the species T. parareesei and T. harzianum, we have verified the differences between the two after their application in rapeseed (Brassica napus) root inoculation, with T. parareesei being a more efficient alternative to increase rapeseed productivity under drought or salinity conditions. In addition, we have determined the role that T. parareesei chorismate mutase plays in its ability to promote tolerance to salinity and drought in plants by increasing the expression of genes related to the hormonal pathways of abscisic acid (ABA) under drought stress, and ethylene (ET) under salt stress.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (14) ◽  
pp. 7313
Author(s):  
Youcheng Zhu ◽  
Qingyu Wang ◽  
Ziwei Gao ◽  
Ying Wang ◽  
Yajing Liu ◽  
...  

Salt stress seriously restricts crop yield and quality, leading to an urgent need to understand its effects on plants and the mechanism of plant responses. Although phytohormones are crucial for plant responses to salt stress, the role of phytohormone signal transduction in the salt stress responses of stress-resistant species such as Sophora alopecuroides has not been reported. Herein, we combined transcriptome and metabolome analyses to evaluate expression changes of key genes and metabolites associated with plant hormone signal transduction in S. alopecuroides roots under salt stress for 0 h to 72 h. Auxin, cytokinin, brassinosteroid, and gibberellin signals were predominantly involved in regulating S. alopecuroides growth and recovery under salt stress. Ethylene and jasmonic acid signals may negatively regulate the response of S. alopecuroides to salt stress. Abscisic acid and salicylic acid are significantly upregulated under salt stress, and their signals may positively regulate the plant response to salt stress. Additionally, salicylic acid (SA) might regulate the balance between plant growth and resistance by preventing reduction in growth-promoting hormones and maintaining high levels of abscisic acid (ABA). This study provides insight into the mechanism of salt stress response in S. alopecuroides and the corresponding role of plant hormones, which is beneficial for crop resistance breeding.


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