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Plant chitinase responses to different metal-type stresses reveal specificity

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Abstract

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Chitinases in Glycine max roots specifically respond to different metal types and reveal a polymorphism that coincides with sensitivity to metal toxicity.

Abstract

Plants evolved various defense mechanisms to cope with metal toxicity. Chitinases (EC 3.2.1.14), belonging to so-called pathogenesis-related proteins, act as possible second line defense compounds in plants exposed to metals. In this work their activity was studied and compared in two selected soybean (Glycine max L.) cultivars, the metal-tolerant cv. Chernyatka and the sensitive cv. Kyivska 98. Roots were exposed to different metal(loid)s such as cadmium, arsenic and aluminum that are expected to cause toxicity in different ways. For comparison, a non-metal, NaCl, was applied as well. The results showed that the sensitivity of roots to different stressors coincides with the responsiveness of chitinases in total protein extracts. Moreover, detailed analyses of acidic and neutral proteins identified one polymorphic chitinase isoform that distinguishes between the two cultivars studied. This isoform was stress responsive and thus could reflect the evolutionary adaptation of soybean to environmental cues. Activities of the individual chitinases were dependent on metal type as well as the cultivar pointing to their more complex role in plant defense during this type of stress.

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Abbreviations

Al:

Aluminum

As:

Arsenic

Cd:

Cadmium

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

SSR:

Simple sequence repeat

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Slovak Grant Agency VEGA No. 2/0062/11 and 1/0509/12. Financial support for P. Socha was provided by the Operational Programme Research and Development for the project: “Implementation of the research of plant genetic resources and its maintaining in the sustainable management of Slovak republic” (ITMS: 26220220097), co-financed from the resources of the European Union Fund for Regional Development. The support of COST Action FA 13006 is also acknowledged.

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Genetics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Nábrežie mládeže 91, 949 74, Nitra, Slovak Republic

    Patrik Mészáros, Roman Kuna & Beáta Piršelová

  2. Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Tr. A. Hlinku 1, 949 74, Nitra, Slovak Republic

    Ľubomír Rybanský

  3. AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Konrad-Lorenz Str. 24, 3430, Tulln, Austria

    Nadine Spieß

  4. Institute of Plant Genetics and Biotechnology, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Akademická 2, P.O. Box 39A, 950 07, Nitra, Slovak Republic

    Peter Socha, Jana Libantová, Jana Moravčíková & Ildikó Matušíková

  5. National Agricultural and Food Centre, Research Institute of Plant Production, Bratislavská cesta 122, 921 68, Piešťany, Slovak Republic

    Pavol Hauptvogel

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  1. Patrik Mészáros
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  2. Ľubomír Rybanský
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Correspondence to Ildikó Matušíková.

Additional information

Communicated by Kathryn K. Kamo.

Electronic supplementary material

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Electronic supplementary material 1

Tolerance indexes of roots of tested soybean cultivars in response to the applied stressors. Supplementary material 1 (DOC 709 kb)

Electronic supplementary material 2

DNA-marker based characterization of soybean cultivars for cadmium accumulation potential. Supplementary material 2 (DOC 1,050 kb)

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Mészáros, P., Rybanský, Ľ., Spieß, N. et al. Plant chitinase responses to different metal-type stresses reveal specificity. Plant Cell Rep 33, 1789–1799 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-014-1657-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-014-1657-9

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