Abstract
Main conclusion
Trehalose increased drought tolerance of tomato plants, accompanied by reduced water loss and closed stomata, which was associated with the upregulated ABA signaling-related genes expression, but not in ABA accumulation.
Abstract
Drought is one of the principal abiotic stresses that negatively influence the growth of plant and yield. Trehalose has great agronomic potential to improve the stress tolerance of plants. However, little information is available on the role of ABA and its signaling components in trehalose-induced drought tolerance. The aim of this study is to elucidate the potential mechanism by which trehalose regulates ABA in response to drought stress. In this study, 6-week-old tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv. Ailsa Craig) plants were treated with 0 or 15.0 mM trehalose solution. Results showed that trehalose treatment significantly enhanced drought tolerance of tomato plants, accompanied by encouraged stomatal closure and protected chloroplast ultrastructure. Compared with controls, trehalose-treated plants showed lower hydrogen peroxide content and higher antioxidant enzymes activities, which contributed to alleviate oxidative damage caused by drought. Moreover, trehalose treatment decreased ABA content, which was followed by the downregulation of ABA biosynthesis genes expression and the upregulation of ABA catabolism genes expression. In contrast, exogenous trehalose upregulated transcript levels of ABA signaling-related genes, including SlPYL1/3/4/5/6/7/9, SlSnRK2.3/4, SlAREB1/2, and SlDREB1. These results suggested that trehalose treatment enhanced drought tolerance of tomato plants, and it’s ABA signaling rather than ABA metabolism that was involved in trehalose-induced drought tolerance in tomato plants. These findings provide evidence for the physiological role of trehalose and bring about a new understanding of the possible relationship between trehalose and ABA.
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Abbreviations
- AREB:
-
ABA-responsive element-binding factor
- NCED:
-
9-cis-Epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase
- PYR/PYL/RCAR:
-
The pyrabactin resistance/pyrabactin resistance-like/regulatory component of ABA receptor
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- SnRK2s:
-
Sucrose non-fermenting 1-related protein kinase 2s
- RWC:
-
Relative water content
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 31571893, 31371847, and 31272215).
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Yu, W., Zhao, R., Wang, L. et al. ABA signaling rather than ABA metabolism is involved in trehalose-induced drought tolerance in tomato plants. Planta 250, 643–655 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-019-03195-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-019-03195-2