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Ethylene sensitivity and relative air humidity regulate root hydraulic properties in tomato plants

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Main conclusion

The effect of ethylene and its precursor ACC on root hydraulic properties, including aquaporin expression and abundance, is modulated by relative air humidity and plant sensitivity to ethylene.

Relative air humidity (RH) is a main factor contributing to water balance in plants. Ethylene (ET) is known to be involved in the regulation of root water uptake and stomatal opening although its role on plant water balance under different RH is not very well understood. We studied, at the physiological, hormonal and molecular levels (aquaporins expression, abundance and phosphorylation state), the plant responses to exogenous 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC; precursor of ET) and 2-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB; inhibitor of ET biosynthesis), after 24 h of application to the roots of tomato wild type (WT) plants and its ET-insensitive never ripe (nr) mutant, at two RH levels: regular (50%) and close to saturation RH. Highest RH induced an increase of root hydraulic conductivity (Lpo) of non-treated WT plants, and the opposite effect in nr mutants. The treatment with ACC reduced Lpo in WT plants at low RH and in nr plants at high RH. The application of AIB increased Lpo only in nr plants at high RH. In untreated plants, the RH treatment changed the abundance and phosphorylation of aquaporins that affected differently both genotypes according to their ET sensitivity. We show that RH is critical in regulating root hydraulic properties, and that Lpo is affected by the plant sensitivity to ET, and possibly to ACC, by regulating aquaporins expression and their phosphorylation status. These results incorporate the relationship between RH and ET in the response of Lpo to environmental changes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (Juan de la Cierva Program and AGL2011-25403 project) and Junta de Andalucía (P10-CVI-5920 project).

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  1. Monica Calvo-Polanco

    Present address: SupAgro/INRA UMR 5004, Biochimie et Physiologie Moléculaire des Plantes, 2, Place Viala, 34060, Montpellier Cedex 2, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Microbiology and Symbiotic Systems, Estación Experimental del Zaidín (CSIC), C/Profesor Albareda 1, 18008, Granada, Spain

    Monica Calvo-Polanco, Pablo Ibort, Sonia Molina, Juan Manuel Ruiz-Lozano & Ricardo Aroca

  2. Department of Environmental Biology, Agricultural Chemistry and Biology Group-CMI Roullier, Faculty of Sciences, University of Navarra, Irunlarrea 1, 31008, Pamplona, Spain

    Angel María Zamarreño & Jose María García-Mina

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  1. Monica Calvo-Polanco
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Correspondence to Ricardo Aroca.

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Calvo-Polanco, M., Ibort, P., Molina, S. et al. Ethylene sensitivity and relative air humidity regulate root hydraulic properties in tomato plants. Planta 246, 987–997 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-017-2746-0

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