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Melatonin improves nitrogen metabolism during grain filling under drought stress

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Abstract

Drought affects the normal growth and development of soybeans. Melatonin reportedly alleviates drought stress-induced growth inhibition and plant injury, thus, its foliar application presumably has considerable potential in agriculture. However, few studies have investigated the mechanism responsible for its effects on soybean nitrogen metabolism. In this study, pot culture and plant physiological detection, qPCR, and other methods were used for analysis. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of melatonin and melanin on glutathione metabolism. The results showed that drought stress led to an increase in soluble protein and proline content, concomitantly with a decrease in the activity of nitrogen metabolism-related key enzymes, an increase in inorganic nitrogen content, and a reduction in nitrogen accumulation and transport. Exogenous melatonin application under drought stress significantly increased the expression of key genes involved in nitrogen metabolism and the activity of key enzymes including, GOGAT, NR, Gs and GDH. Enhanced enzyme activity promotes the conversion of nitrate nitrogen in plants, increases proline, soluble protein, and ureide contents, and, consequently, nitrogen accumulation. Altogether, these changes were conducive to greater nitrogen assimilation and transport. Therefore, under drought stress, melatonin application upregulated key genes involved in nitrogen metabolism, thereby enhancing the activity of related enzymes and restoring growth, stable biomass production.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences for providing seeds.

Funding

This study was funded by the Initiation Foundation for Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University Support Program for San Heng San Zong (ZRCQC202101), China Agriculture Research System (CARS-04-PS18), Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (C2017049), Research Initiation Plan for Talent Introduction (XYB202011).

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  1. Liang Cao and Bin Qin have contributed equally to this work and co- first authors of this article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agriculture, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150006, Heilongjiang, China

    Liang Cao & Zhenping Gong

  2. Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, 5 Xinfeng Road, Daqing, China

    Liang Cao, Bin Qin & Yuxian Zhang

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  1. Liang Cao
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  2. Bin Qin
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  4. Yuxian Zhang
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Contributions

Yuxian Zhang conceived and designed the study. Liang Cao and Bin Qin performed the experiments, collected the plant materials, analyzed the data. Liang Cao wrote the manuscript with contributions from all the authors. Zhenping Gong critically revised the manuscript. All of the authors read and approved the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhenping Gong or Yuxian Zhang.

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Cao, L., Qin, B., Gong, Z. et al. Melatonin improves nitrogen metabolism during grain filling under drought stress. Physiol Mol Biol Plants 28, 1477–1488 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12298-022-01219-y

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