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Vanillic Acid Mitigates Dehydration Stress Responses in Blueberry Plants

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Abstract

This study investigated whether vanillic acid (VA) mitigated dehydration stress responses in blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.), and analyzed potential mechanisms mediating this activity. We pretreated 2‑year-old blueberry plants with 40 μM VA for two days, and then induced dehydration stress by irrigating with nutrient solution containing 10% (w/v) polyethylene glycol 6000 for two days. VA pretreatment increased the transcript levels of genes encoding eight antioxidant enzymes in leaves, including iron superoxide dismutase, chloroplast copper/zinc superoxide dismutase, cytoplasmic copper/zinc superoxide dismutase, catalase, guaiacol peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and dehydroascorbate reductase. These increased transcript levels were consistent with enhanced activities of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase and elevated contents of reduced glutathione and ascorbate. Subjecting the V--A‑treated blueberry to dehydration stress further enhanced expression levels of these genes, compared with the control plants subjected only to dehydration stress, increased the contents of endogenous VA, proline, and soluble sugars, enhanced the relative water content and osmotic potential, and reduced the levels of superoxide anion, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde. So pretreatment of blueberry with VA reduces lipid peroxidation and mitigates dehydration stress by enhancing the endogenous VA content, activating the expression of antioxidant enzyme genes, and increasing the levels of proline and soluble sugars.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Special Fund for Forestry Scientific Research in the Public Interest (project no. 201204412) and China Scholarship Council (project no. 201809135004).

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    Authors and Affiliations

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

      Y. Q. An, X. J. Wang, Z. Y. Cheng, Z. K. Zhu, G. G. Yan, Y. X. Li & J. G. Bai

    2. Economic Forest Institute, Shandong Academy of Forestry Sciences, 250014, Ji’nan, Shandong, China

      L. Sun

    3. School of Food Science and Engineering, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), 250353, Ji’nan, Shandong, China

      R. Sun

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    1. Y. Q. An
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    Contributions

    Authors Y.Q. An, L. Sun, X.J. Wang, and R. Sun contributed equally to this paper.

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    Correspondence to J. G. Bai.

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    The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest to this work. This article does not contain any studies involving animals or human participants as objects of research.

    Additional information

    Abbreviations: APX—ascorbate peroxidase; AsA—ascorbate; CAT—catalase; Chl Cu/Zn-SOD—chloroplast copper/zinc superoxide dismutase; Cyt Cu/Zn-SOD—cytoplasmic copper/zinc superoxide dismutase; DHAR—dehydroascorbate reductase; Fe-SOD—iron superoxide dismutase; GPX— guaiacol peroxidase; GR—glutathione reductase; GSH— reduced glutathione; GSH-Px—glutathione peroxidase; H2O2—hydrogen peroxide; MDA—malondialdehyde; \({\text{O}}_{2}^{{\centerdot - }}\)—superoxide anion; PEG—polyethylene glycol; RWC—relative water content; SOD—superoxide dismutase; VA—vanillic acid.

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    An, Y.Q., Sun, L., Wang, X.J. et al. Vanillic Acid Mitigates Dehydration Stress Responses in Blueberry Plants. Russ J Plant Physiol 66, 806–817 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1021443719050029

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