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Durum wheat dehydrin (DHN-5) confers salinity tolerance to transgenic Arabidopsis plants through the regulation of proline metabolism and ROS scavenging system

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Main conclusion

The wheat dehydrin (DHN-5) gives birth to salinity tolerance to transgenic Arabidopsis plants by the regulation of proline metabolism and the ROS scavenging system.

Dehydrins (DHNs) are involved in plant abiotic stress tolerance. In this study, we reported that salt tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing durum wheat dehydrin (DHN-5) was closely related to the activation of the proline metabolism enzyme (P5CS) and some antioxidant biocatalysts. Indeed, DHN-5 improved P5CS activity in the transgenic plants generating a significant proline accumulation. Moreover, salt tolerance of Arabidopsis transgenic plants was accompanied by an excellent activation of antioxidant enzymes like catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxide dismutase (POD) and generation of a lower level of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in leaves compared to the wild-type plants. The enzyme activities were enhanced in these transgenic plants in the presence of exogenous proline. Nevertheless, proline accumulation was slightly reduced in transgenic plants promoting chlorophyll levels. All these results suggest the crucial role of DHN-5 in response to salt stress through the activation of enzymes implicated in proline metabolism and in ROS scavenging enzymes.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Grants from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Tunisia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology and Plant Improvement Laboratory, Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax-University of Sfax, B.P 1177, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

    Walid Saibi, Kaouthar Feki, Rihem Ben Mahmoud & Faiçal Brini

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  1. Walid Saibi
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  2. Kaouthar Feki
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  3. Rihem Ben Mahmoud
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  4. Faiçal Brini
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Correspondence to Walid Saibi.

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Saibi, W., Feki, K., Ben Mahmoud, R. et al. Durum wheat dehydrin (DHN-5) confers salinity tolerance to transgenic Arabidopsis plants through the regulation of proline metabolism and ROS scavenging system. Planta 242, 1187–1194 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-015-2351-z

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