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Protective roles of nitric oxide on germination and antioxidant metabolism in wheat seeds under copper stress

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Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) is a multifunctional gaseous signal in plant. In the present study, we found that pretreatment with NO could significantly improve wheat seeds germination and alleviate oxidative stress against copper toxicity. With the enhancement of copper stress, the germination percentage of wheat seeds decreased gradually. Pretreatment during wheat seed imbibition with sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an NO donor, could greatly reverse the inhibitory effect of the following copper stress to wheat seeds germination. SNP-pretreated seeds also tended to retain higher amylase activities than that of the control without SNP pretreatment. On the other hand, there was no apparent difference in the activities of esterase in wheat seeds pretreated with or without SNP. Further investigations showed that pretreatment with NO donor dramatically stimulated the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD, EC 1.15.1.1) and catalase (CAT, EC 1.11.1.6), decreased the activities of lipoxygenases, sustained a lower level of malondialdehyde, and interfered with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) excessive accumulation compared with the control, thereby enhancing the antioxidative capacity in wheat seeds under copper stress. In addition, the seed copper contents were not significant different between those pretreated with SNP and the controls, inferring that protective roles of NO was not responsible for preventing Cu uptake.

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Abbreviations

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

CAT:

Catalase

cPTIO:

2-(4-Carboxyphenyl)- 4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide)

PAGE:

Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

MDA:

Malondialdehyde

NO:

Nitric oxide

PBS:

Phosphate buffer solution

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

SNP:

Sodium nitroprusside

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

TBA:

Thiobarbituric acid

TCA:

Trichloroacetic acid

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province (grant no. 070411009) and by an innovation fund from Hefei University of Technology to undergraduate students (grant no. XS0637).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, Anhui, 230009, People’s Republic of China

    Kang-Di Hu, Lan-Ying Hu, Yan-Hong Li & Hua Zhang

  2. Department of Biology, Hexi University, Zhangye, Gansu, 734000, People’s Republic of China

    Fen-Qin Zhang

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  1. Kang-Di Hu
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  2. Lan-Ying Hu
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  3. Yan-Hong Li
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  4. Fen-Qin Zhang
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  5. Hua Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hua Zhang.

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Kang-Di Hu and Lan-Ying Hu contributed equally to this paper.

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Hu, KD., Hu, LY., Li, YH. et al. Protective roles of nitric oxide on germination and antioxidant metabolism in wheat seeds under copper stress. Plant Growth Regul 53, 173–183 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-007-9216-9

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