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The regulatory role of riboflavin in the drought tolerance of tobacco plants depends on ROS production

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Abstract

Riboflavin (vitamin B2) is required for normal plant growth and development. Previous studies have shown that riboflavin application can enhance pathogen resistance in plants. Here, we investigated the role of riboflavin in increasing drought tolerance (10 % PEG6000 treatment) in plants. We treated 4 week-old tobacco plants with five different levels of riboflavin (0, 4, 20, 100 and 500 μM) for 5 days and examined their antioxidant responses and levels of drought tolerance. Compared with the controls, low and moderate levels of riboflavin treatment enhanced drought tolerance in the tobacco plants, whereas higher concentrations of riboflavin (500 μM) impaired drought tolerance. Further analysis revealed that plants treated with 500 μM riboflavin accumulated higher levels of ROS (O2 − and H2O2) and lipid peroxide than the control plants or plants treated with low levels of riboflavin. Consistent with this observation, the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) were higher in plants treated with low or moderate (4, 20 and 100 μM) levels of riboflavin compared with the control. We also found that chlorophyll degraded rapidly in control and 500 μM riboflavin-treated plants under drought stress conditions. In addition, the survival times of the riboflavin-treated plants were significantly modified by treatment with reduced glutathione, a well-known ROS scavenger, under drought stress conditions. Thus, riboflavin-mediated ROS production may determine the effects of riboflavin on drought tolerance in tobacco plants.

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Abbreviations

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

O2 − :

Superoxide anion

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

SOD:

Superoxide dismutase

CAT:

Catalase

APX:

Ascorbate peroxidase

GR:

Glutathione reductase

TBARS:

Thiobarbituric acids reactive substance

FMN:

Flavin monophosphate

FAD:

Flavin adenine dinucleotide

GSH:

Reduced glutathione

GSSG:

Oxidized glutathione

AsA:

Reduced ascorbate

DHA:

Oxidized ascorbate

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Grant of Scientific Research Fund of Heilongjiang Provincial Key Project GA06C101-01 and Scientific Research Fund of Heilongjiang Land Reclamation Bureau Key Project HNKXIV-06-03B, HNKXIVZD-017 and HNK11A-05-10. We also should give our thanks to Prof. Hansong Dong, the Father of riboflavin in China, for his helps in this work.

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  1. Plant Pathology Laboratory, Department of Agronomy, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, 163319, China

    Benliang Deng, Xuehui Jin, Yang Yang, Zhiwei Lin & Yaling Zhang

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  1. Benliang Deng
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  2. Xuehui Jin
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  3. Yang Yang
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  4. Zhiwei Lin
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  5. Yaling Zhang
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Correspondence to Benliang Deng.

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Deng, B., Jin, X., Yang, Y. et al. The regulatory role of riboflavin in the drought tolerance of tobacco plants depends on ROS production. Plant Growth Regul 72, 269–277 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-013-9858-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-013-9858-8

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