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The alternative pathway in cucumber seedlings under low temperature stress was enhanced by salicylic acid

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Abstract

The alternative pathway is a cyanide-resistant and non-phosphorylatory electron transport pathway in mitochondria of higher plants. Alternative oxidase (AOX) is the terminal oxidase of this pathway. Our present study investigated the effect of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) on alternative pathway in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) seedlings under low temperature stress. Results showed that during the process of low temperature stress, the alternative pathway capacity was enhanced as AOX expression increased in SA pretreated seedlings. Compared with seedlings without SA pretreatment, slower decrease of relative water content and lower levels of electrolyte leakage, H2O2 and malonyldialdehyde content were detected in SA pretreated seedlings. These results indicated that SA could alleviate the injury caused by low temperature on cucumber seedlings. Since the special protective functions of alternative pathway and AOX in plants, we suggested that the alternative pathway was related to SA-mediated plant resistance to environmental stresses such as low temperature.

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Abbreviations

AOX:

Alternative oxidase

DW:

Dry weight

EL:

Electrolyte leakage

MDA:

Malonyldialdehyde

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

RWC:

Relative water content

SA:

Salicylic acid

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Jian-Ping Yu (Michigan State University, USA) for his generous gift of AOA. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30670166, 30970214), Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (108110).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Bio-Resources and Eco-Environment (Ministry of Education), College of Life Sciences, Sichuan University, 610064, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Tao Lei, Xin Sun, Qi-Lin Dai, Fan Zhang, Hou-Guo Liang & Hong-Hui Lin

  2. Sichuan College of Education, 610041, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Feng

  3. State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, 610065, Chengdu, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Hong-Hui Lin

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  1. Tao Lei
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  3. Xin Sun
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Correspondence to Hong-Hui Lin.

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Lei, T., Feng, H., Sun, X. et al. The alternative pathway in cucumber seedlings under low temperature stress was enhanced by salicylic acid. Plant Growth Regul 60, 35–42 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-009-9416-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-009-9416-6

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