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Exogenous hydrogen sulfide alleviates salt stress in wheat seedlings by decreasing Na+ content

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Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an important gaseous molecule in a number of plant developmental processes and stress responses. Triticum aestivum L. (LM 15) is a salt-sensitive wheat cultivar that was used here to examine the effect of exogenous H2S on seedling growth, Na+ and K+ concentration, and Na+ transportation under NaCl stress. The results showed that pretreatment with 0.05 mM sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), a H2S donor, for 12 h significantly alleviated the growth inhibition of wheat seedlings under 100 mM NaCl. In addition, pretreatment with NaHS decreased the Na+ concentration, Na+/K+ ratio, the selective absorption capacity for K+ over Na+ and Na+ efflux ratio, and increased the selective transport capacity for K+ over Na+ under salt stress. Additional experiments with CaCl2 (an inhibitor of nonselective cation channels—NSCCs), TEA+ (an inhibitor of low affinity K+ transporter) or amiloride (an inhibitor of salt overly sensitive 1—SOS1) showed that NSCCs and SOS1 were the major pathways by which H2S reduced Na+ concentration in wheat seedlings. These results showed that exogenous H2S alleviated growth inhibition by maintaining a lower Na+ concentration in wheat seedlings under NaCl stress via the regulation of NSCCs and SOS1 pathways.

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Abbreviations

CBS:

Cystathionine β-synthetase

CO:

Carbonic oxide

CSE:

Cystathionine γ-lyase

HKT:

High-affinity K+ transporter

NaHS:

Sodium hydrosulfide

NO:

Nitric oxide

NSCCs:

Nonselective cation channels

SA:

Selective absorption capacity

SOS1:

Salt overly sensitive 1

ST:

Selective transport capacity

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported through grants from the NSFC (National Natural Science Research Foundation of China, Project No. 30870158, 31570251), Programs Foundation of the Ministry of Education of China (20123704130001) and Natural Science Research Foundation of Shandong Province (ZR2014CZ002). We thank Prof. Qingrong Gao from Shandong Agricultural University for kindly providing wheat seeds.

Author contributions

Bao-Shan Wang designed the experiments and revised the paper. Yun-Quan Deng, Jing Bao, Fang Yuan, Xue Liang and Zhong-Tao Feng performed the experiments. Yun-Quan Deng and Jing Bao drafted the manuscript.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Key Laboratory of Plant Stress Research, College of Life Science, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, 250014, Shandong, Peoples’ Republic of China

      Yun-Quan Deng, Jing Bao, Fang Yuan, Xue Liang, Zhong-Tao Feng & Bao-Shan Wang

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    1. Yun-Quan Deng
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    2. Jing Bao
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    Correspondence to Bao-Shan Wang.

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    Yun-Quan Deng and Jing Bao are equally contributed to this article.

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    Deng, YQ., Bao, J., Yuan, F. et al. Exogenous hydrogen sulfide alleviates salt stress in wheat seedlings by decreasing Na+ content. Plant Growth Regul 79, 391–399 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-015-0143-x

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