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Rootstocks improve cucumber photosynthesis through nitrogen metabolism regulation under salt stress

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Abstract

We examined the growth, photosynthetic parameters, initial and total ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) activity, the relative expression of rbcL, rbcS, and rca gene, and nitrogen metabolism of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv. Jinchun No.2, CS) plants grafted onto figleaf gourd (Cucurbita ficifolia Bouché, CF) and pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duch. cv. Chaojiquanwang, CM) rootstocks. Growth inhibition under salt stress (90 mM NaCl) was characterized by the irreversible inhibition of CO2 assimilation in the cucumber plants grafted onto cucumber rootstocks (CS/CS). In contrast, this effect was significantly alleviated by grafting the cucumber plants onto the CF and CM roots (CS/CF, CS/CM). Under NaCl stress, the CS/CF and CS/CM plants exhibited higher photosynthetic activity, higher initial and total Rubisco activity, and higher Rubisco-related gene expression than the CS/CS plants. Salinity resulted in a lesser increase in nitrate content and decrease in free amino acid content in the CS/CF and the CS/CM plants compared with the CS/CS plants. Accordingly, the activity of nitrate reductase, glutamine synthetase, and glutamate synthase decreased significantly, especially in the CS/CS plants. These results suggest that grafting cucumber plants onto salt-tolerant rootstocks enhances Rubisco activity and the expression of Rubisco-related genes by effectively accelerating nitrate transformation into amino acids under NaCl stress, thereby improving the photosynthetic performance of cucumber leaves.

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Abbreviations

C i :

Intercellular CO2 concentration

GOGAT:

Glutamate synthase

GS:

Glutamine synthetase

G s :

Stomatal conductance

NR:

Nitrate reductase

P n :

Net photosynthetic rate

rbcL:

Rubisco large subunit gene

rbcS:

Rubisco small subunit gene

rca :

Rubisco activase gene

QRT-PCR:

Real-time polymerase chain reaction

Rubisco:

Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase

SE:

Standard errors

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30871738, 31172000) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB119000).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Horticultural Plant Biology, Ministry of Education/College of Horticulture and Forestry, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Zhixiong Liu, Zhilong Bie, Yuan Huang, Ai Zhen, Mengliang Niu & Bo Lei

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  1. Zhixiong Liu
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  2. Zhilong Bie
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  3. Yuan Huang
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  4. Ai Zhen
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  5. Mengliang Niu
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  6. Bo Lei
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhilong Bie.

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Communicated by U. Feller.

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Liu, Z., Bie, Z., Huang, Y. et al. Rootstocks improve cucumber photosynthesis through nitrogen metabolism regulation under salt stress. Acta Physiol Plant 35, 2259–2267 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1262-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1262-5

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