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Effects of nitric oxide on the germination of cucumber seeds and antioxidant enzymes under salinity stress

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Abstract

Effects of exogenous nitric oxide (NO) on the germination and antioxidant enzyme during cucumber seed germination were investigated under salt stress. Seeds of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Jinyou 1) were treated with distilled water or NaCl in the presence or absence of NO donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) during germination. Excess 50 mM NaCl reduced significantly the seed germination rate in a short term and speed of germination. When salt concentration increased, germination of cucumber seed was reduced and the time needed to complete germination lengthened. Addition of exogenous SNP in salt solution attenuated the salt stress effects in a dose-dependent manner, as indicated by accelerating the seed germination, as well as weight increase of budding seeds, and 50 μM SNP was optimal concentration. At 150 mM NaCl, the 50 μM exogenous SNP significantly increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1), catalase (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6) and protein content, while decreased the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA). There were no obvious effects of exogenous NO on peroxidase (POD, EC 1.11.1.6) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX, EC 1.11.1.6) activities under salt stress. Exogenous NO also increased the SOD and CAT isozyme expression under salt stress, which was in accordance with the improved antioxidant activities in the germinating seeds. The NO-induced salt stress resistance was associated with activated enzymes, and enhanced protein content, thus decreasing MDA content. It is concluded that exogenous NO treatment on cucumber seeds may be a good option to improve seed germination under saline conditions.

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Abbreviations

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

CAT:

Catalase

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NO:

Nitric oxide

O .−2 :

Superoxide radical

PAGE:

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

POD:

Peroxidase

PSWRBT:

Percentage of the number of seeds with radicals breaking through testa

RHRS:

Ratio of the length of hypocotyls and radicals to the length of seeds

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SNP:

Sodium nitroprusside

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31101539; No. 31201658) and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. Y3110308).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Agriculture and Food Science, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Lin’an, 311300, China

    Huai-Fu Fan, Chang-Xia Du, Ling Ding & Yan-Li Xu

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  1. Huai-Fu Fan
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  2. Chang-Xia Du
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  3. Ling Ding
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  4. Yan-Li Xu
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Correspondence to Chang-Xia Du.

Additional information

Communicated by J. van Staden.

H.-F. Fan and C.-X. Du contributed equally to this work.

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Fan, HF., Du, CX., Ding, L. et al. Effects of nitric oxide on the germination of cucumber seeds and antioxidant enzymes under salinity stress. Acta Physiol Plant 35, 2707–2719 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1303-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1303-0

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