Abstract
It is known that polyamines (PAs) including spermine (Spm) enhance the abiotic stress tolerance of crops. Here, the effects of hydroponic Spm pre-treatment on the amelioration of the adverse effects of salinity were investigated in pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) that is an economically important horticultural crop and sensitive to salinity, especially at the establishment stage. For this purpose, 10-day-old, uniform-sized seedlings were transplanted to plastic containers containing Hoagland nutrient solution. Spm was added at 0.1 and 1 mM to the hydroponic medium for 5 days before stress. The plants were treated with 40 and 80 mM NaCl for inducing salinity stress. Salt stress reduced the plant growth and potassium content in roots, and these detrimental effects were alleviated when plants were pre-treated with Spm. Salinity stress caused a significant increase in sodium and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) content when compared with controls. Spm pre-treatment ameliorated these salinity stress effects by increasing sodium content of root and leaves GABA content. Expression analysis of two sodium transporter genes, salt overly sensitive1 (SOS1) and Na+/H+ exchanger (NHX1) revealed that their expression was differentially induced in roots of plants treated either with salinity or Spm. These results suggest that Spm via the overexpression of the NHX1 gene substantially increased the tolerance to stress by sequestering excess Na+ into the vacuoles and sustaining a better cellular environment. Moreover, Spm has potential to scavenge directly free radical and to alleviate growth inhibition and promote the activity of antioxidant system enzymes in pumpkin seedlings under salt stress.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ddH2O:
-
double distilled H2O
- EF1α:
-
elongation factor1-α
- FV:
-
fast vacuolar channels
- GABA:
-
γ-aminobutyric acid
- HN:
-
hydroxyl naphthaldehyde
- NHX1:
-
Na+/H+ exchanger
- PAO:
-
polyamine oxidase
- PA:
-
polyamine
- Put:
-
putrescent
- SOS1:
-
salt overly sensitive1
- Spd:
-
spermidine
- Spm:
-
spermine
- SV:
-
slow vacuolar channels
References
Parida, A.K. and Das, A.B., Salt tolerance and salinity effects on plants: a review, Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf., 2005, vol. 60, pp. 324–349.
Renault, H., El Amrani, A., Palanivelu, R., Updegraff, E.P., Yu, A., Renou, J.P., Preuss, D., Bouchereau, A., and Deleu, C., GABA accumulation causes cell elongation defects and a decrease in expression of genes encoding secreted and cell wallrelated proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana, Plant Cell Physiol., 2011, vol. 52, pp. 894–908.
Xing, S.G., Jun, Y.B., Hau, Z.W., and Liang, L.Y., Higher accumulation of γ-aminobutyric acid induced by salt stress through stimulating the activity of diamine oxidases in Glycine max (L.) Merr. roots, Plant Physiol. Biochem., 2007, vol. 45, pp. 560–566.
Zhu, J.K., Regulation of ion homeostasis under salt stress, Curr. Opin. Plant Biol., 2003, vol. 6, pp. 441–445.
Hasegawa, P.M., Bressan, R.A., Zhu, J.K., and Bohnert, H.J., Plant cellular and molecular responses to high salinity, Annu. Rev. Plant Biol., 2000, vol. 51, pp. 463–499.
Chinnusamy, V., Zhu, J., and Zhu, J.K., Salt stress signaling and mechanisms of plant salt tolerance, in Genetic Engineering, Setlow, J.K. and Guerineau, F., Eds., Springer, 2006, pp. 141–177.
Leidi, E.O., Barragán, V., Rubio, L., El-Hamdaoui, A., Ruiz, M.T., Cubero, B., Fernández, J.A., Bressan, R.A., Hasegawa, P.M., Quintero, F.J., and Pardo, J.M., The AtNHX1 exchanger mediates potassium compartmentation in vacuoles of transgenic tomato, Plant J., 2010, vol. 61, pp. 495–506.
Hussain, S.S., Ali, M., Ahmad, M., and Siddique, K.H., Polyamines: natural and engineered abiotic and biotic stress tolerance in plants, Biotechnol. Adv., 2011, vol. 29, pp. 300–311.
Gill, S.S. and Tuteja, N., Polyamines and abiotic stress tolerance in plants, Plant Signal. Behav., 2010, vol. 5, pp. 26–33.
Shu, S., Yuan, L.Y., Guo, S.R., Sun, J., and Yuan, Y.H., Effects of exogenous spermine on chlorophyll fluorescence, antioxidant system and ultrastructure of chloroplasts in Cucumis sativus L. under salt stress, Plant Physiol. Biochem., 2013, vol. 63, pp. 209–216.
Radhakrishnan, R. and Lee, I.J., Spermine promotes acclimation to osmotic stress by modifying antioxidant, abscisic acid, and jasmonic acid signals in soybean, J. Plant Growth Regul., 2013, vol. 32, pp. 22–30.
Zhu, J.K., Plant salt tolerance, Trends Plant Sci., 2001, vol. 6, pp. 66–71.
Baum, G., Lev-Yadun, S., Fridmann, Y., Arazi, T., Katsnelson, H., Zik, M., and Fromm, H., Calmodulin binding to glutamate decarboxylase is required for regulation of glutamate and GABA metabolism and normal development in plants, EMBO J., 1996, vol. 15, no. 12, pp. 2988–2996.
Bor, M., Seckin, B., Ozgur, R., Yilmaz, O., Ozdemir, F., and Turkan, I., Comparative effects of drought, salt, heavy metal and heat stresses on gamma-aminobutyric acid levels of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.), Acta Physiol. Plant., 2009, vol. 31, pp. 655–659.
Zheljazkov, V.D. and Nielsen, N.E., Effect of heavy metals on peppermint and cornmint, Plant Soil, 1996, vol. 178, pp. 59–66.
Siddiqui, M.H., Al-Whaibi, M.H., Faisal, M., Al Sahli, A.A., Nano-silicon dioxide mitigates the adverse effects of salt stress on Cucurbita pepo L., Environ. Toxicol. Chem., 2014, vol. 33, pp. 2429–2437.
Sang, Q., Shu, S., Shan, X., Guo, S., and Sun, J., Effects of exogenous spermidine on antioxidant system of tomato seedlings exposed to high temperature stress, Russ. J. Plant Physiol., 2016, vol. 63, pp. 645–655.
Signorelli, S., Dans, P.D., Coitiño, E.L., Borsani, O., and Monza, J., Connecting proline and ?-aminobutyric acid in stressed plants through non-enzymatic reactions, PloS One, 2015, vol. 10, p. e0115349.
Kuznetsov, Vl.V., Radyukina, N., and Shevyakova, N., Polyamines and stress: biological role, metabolism, and regulation, Russ. J. Plant Physiol., 2006, vol. 53, pp. 583–604.
Michaeli, S. and Fromm, H., Closing the loop on the GABA shunt in plants: are GABA metabolism and signaling entwined? Front. Plant Sci., 2015, vol. 6, p. 419. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2015.00419
Angelini, R., Cona, A., Federico, R., Fincato, P., Tavladoraki, P., and Tisi, A., Plant amine oxidases “on the move”: an update, Plant Physiol. Biochem., 2010, vol. 48, pp. 560–564.
Shabala, S. and Cuin, T.A., Potassium transport and plant salt tolerance, Physiol. Plant., 2008, vol. 133, pp. 651–669.
Shabala, S., Cuin, T.A., and Pottosin, I., Polyamines prevent NaCl-induced K+ efflux from pea mesophyll by blocking non-selective cation channels, FEBS Lett., 2007, vol. 581, pp. 1993–1999.
Pottosin, I. and Shabala, S., Polyamines control of cation transport across plant membranes: implications for ion homeostasis and abiotic stress signaling, Front. Plant Sci., 2014, vol. 5, p.154.
Hasegawa, P.M., Sodium (Na+) homeostasis and salt tolerance of plants, Environ. Exp. Bot., 2013, vol. 92, pp. 19–31.
Bonales-Alatorre, E., Shabala, S., Chen, Z.H., and Pottosin, I., Reduced tonoplast fast-activating and slow-activating channel activity is essential for conferring salinity tolerance in a facultative halophyte, quinoa, Plant Physiol., 2013, vol. 162, pp. 940–952.
Shi, H., Ishitani, M., Kim, C., and Zhu, J.K., The Arabidopsis thaliana salt tolerance gene SOS1 encodes a putative Na+/H+ antiporter, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2000, vol. 97, pp. 6896–6901.
Yamaguchi, K., Takahashi, Y., Berberich, T., Imai, A., Miyazaki, A., Takahashi, T., Michael, A., and Kusano, T., The polyamine spermine protects against high salt stress in Arabidopsis thaliana, FEBS Lett., 2006, vol. 580, pp. 6783–6788.
Alcázar, R., Altabella, T., Marco, F., Bortolotti, C., Reymond, M., Koncz, C., Carrasco, P., and Tiburcio, A.F., Polyamines: molecules with regulatory functions in plant abiotic stress tolerance, Planta, 2010, vol. 231, pp. 1237–1249.
Zepeda-Jazo, I., Shabala, S., Chen, Z., and Pottosin, I.I., Na+–K+ transport in roots under salt stress, Plant Signal. Behav., 2008, vol. 3, pp. 401–403.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
The article is published in the original.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nejad-Alimoradi, F., Nasibi, F., Manoochehri Kalantari, K. et al. Spermine Pre-Treatment Improves Some Physiochemical Parameters and Sodium Transporter Gene Expression of Pumpkin Seedlings under Salt Stress. Russ J Plant Physiol 65, 222–228 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443718020188
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443718020188