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Mitigation of salt stress response in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) by exogenous melatonin

Journal of Plant Research volume 134, pages 857–871 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

As a pleiotropic signal molecule, melatonin is ubiquitous throughout the animal and plant kingdoms and plays important roles in the regulation of plant growth, development, and responses to environmental stresses. In this study, we quantified the endogenous melatonin levels in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.), using high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The melatonin concentrations in root, stem, and leaf were 150.60, 37.92, and 40.58 ng g fresh weight− 1, respectively. The effects of exogenous melatonin (1 µM) on plant growth, photosynthesis, antioxidant enzyme activity, and ion homeostasis in upland cotton seedlings exposed to 100 mM NaCl treatment were determined. Pretreatment (prior to exposure to salt stress) of seedlings with exogenous melatonin significantly alleviated plant growth inhibition by salt stress and maintained an improved photosynthetic capacity. The application of melatonin also significantly reduced the salt-induced oxidative damage, possibly through the accumulation of osmotic regulatory substances and the activation of antioxidant enzymes. We also showed that exogenous melatonin regulated the expression of stress-responsive and ion-channel genes under salinity, which could contribute to improved salt tolerance in cotton. Taken together, our study provides evidence that cotton contains endogenous melatonin, and it may have unraveled crucial evidence of the role of melatonin in cotton against salt stress.

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Funding

This research was mainly supported by National Key R&D Program of China (Grant nos. 2018YFD0100303) and China Major Projects for Transgenic Breeding (Grant nos. 2016ZX08005-004).

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Author notes

  1. Jian Shen and Dongdong Chen contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, 271018, Shandong, China

    Jian Shen, Dongdong Chen, Xiaopei Zhang, Lirong Song, Jie Dong, Qingjiang Xu, Mengjiao Hu, Yingying Cheng, Fafu Shen & Wei Wang

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  1. Jian Shen
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  2. Dongdong Chen
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  3. Xiaopei Zhang
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  4. Lirong Song
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Contributions

Conceptualization, FS and WW; validation, FS and WW; formal analysis, JS and DC; investigation, DC, QX, XZ, RS, JD, YC, MH and JS; data curation, DC, QX, XZ, RS, JD, YC, MH and JS; writing—original draft preparation, JS; writing—review and editing, DC, FS and WW; supervision, WW and FS; project administration, JS, FS and WW; funding acquisition, WW.

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Correspondence to Wei Wang.

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Shen, J., Chen, D., Zhang, X. et al. Mitigation of salt stress response in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) by exogenous melatonin. J Plant Res 134, 857–871 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-021-01284-6

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Keywords

  • Melatonin
  • Salt stress
  • Transcription factors
  • Upland cotton