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Water deficit stress-induced changes in carbon and nitrogen partitioning in Chenopodium quinoa Willd.

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Abstract

Main conclusion

Water deficit stress followed by re-watering during grain filling resulted in the induction of the ornithine pathway and in changes in Quinoa grain quality.

The genetic diversity of Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (Quinoa) is accompanied by an outstanding environmental adaptability and high nutritional properties of the grains. However, little is known about the biochemical and physiological mechanisms associated with the abiotic stress tolerance of Quinoa. Here, we characterized carbon and nitrogen metabolic changes in Quinoa leaves and grains in response to water deficit stress analyzing their impact on the grain quality of two lowland ecotypes (Faro and BO78). Differences in the stress recovery response were found between genotypes including changes in the activity of nitrogen assimilation-associated enzymes that resulted in differences in grain quality. Both genotypes showed a common strategy to overcome water stress including the stress-induced synthesis of reactive oxygen species scavengers and osmolytes. Particularly, water deficit stress induced the stimulation of the ornithine and raffinose pathways. Our results would suggest that the regulation of C- and N partitioning in Quinoa during grain filling could be used for the improvement of the grain quality without altering grain yields.

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Abbreviations

GDH:

Glutamate dehydrogenase

GS:

Glutamine synthetase

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Fondecyt Initiation No 11130480 to L.B.-G. and by the Will W. Lester Endowment of the University of California to E.B. We thank Dr. Pedro León Lobos at the INIA-Intihuasi Chile National Seed Bank Repository and Cooperative “Las Nieves” for providing the Quinoa seeds.

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    1. Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Zonas Áridas (CEAZA), Consorcio: Universidad de La Serena, INIA Intihuasi, Universidad Católica del Norte, Casilla 599, Coquimbo, Chile

      Luisa Bascuñán-Godoy

    2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

      Maria Reguera, Yasser M. Abdel-Tawab & Eduardo Blumwald

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    1. Luisa Bascuñán-Godoy
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    2. Maria Reguera
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    Correspondence to Luisa Bascuñán-Godoy.

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    L. Bascuñán-Godoy and M. Reguera contributed equally to this work.

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    425_2015_2424_MOESM1_ESM.jpg

    Supplementary material 1: Effects of water stress and re-watering on relative water content and soil water content of two genotypes of Chenopodium quinoa. Relative water content (a) and soil water content (b) was calculated every 2 days during water stress and after 3 days of re-watering. Values are mean ± SD (n = 6). Significant differences between conditions were indicated by asterisks using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey t test. Asterisks indicate significant differences respect to initial condition for each of the genotypes (P ≤ 0.05) (JPEG 448 kb)

    425_2015_2424_MOESM2_ESM.jpg

    Supplementary material 2: Effects of water stress and re-watering on photosynthesis of two genotypes of Chenopodium quinoa. A/Ci curves (net CO2 assimilation rate versus CO2 concentration (Ci)) were performed at zero (a), two (b), four (c) and six days of water stress (d), and after 3 days of re-watering (e). Fully expanded third leaves (from the top part of the plant) were used for the photosynthetic measurements. Values are mean ± SD (n = 6). Significant differences between conditions were indicated by asterisks using one-way ANOVA followed by Tukey t-test. Asterisks indicate significant differences by condition for each of the genotypes (P ≤ 0.05) (JPEG 738 kb)

    Supplementary material 3 (PDF 148 kb)

    Supplementary material 4 (PDF 288 kb)

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    Bascuñán-Godoy, L., Reguera, M., Abdel-Tawab, Y.M. et al. Water deficit stress-induced changes in carbon and nitrogen partitioning in Chenopodium quinoa Willd.. Planta 243, 591–603 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-015-2424-z

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