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5-Aminolevulinic acid enhances photosynthetic gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and antioxidant system in oilseed rape under drought stress

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Abstract

This study evaluates the role of exogenous foliar application of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) on water relations, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence, and the activities and gene expression patterns of antioxidant enzymes in leaves of oilseed rape under drought stress and recovery conditions. Seedlings at four-leaf stage were imposed to well-watered condition (80 % of water-holding capacity) or drought stress (40 % of water-holding capacity) and subsequently foliar sprayed with water or ALA (30 mg l−1). Drought suppressed the accumulation of plant biomass and decreased chlorophyll content and leaf water status (relative water content and water potential). The actual quantum yield of photosystem II and electron transport rates were hampered in parallel to net photosynthetic rate. However, drought stress induced the accumulation of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide, enhanced the activities of catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR) and superoxide dismutase and up-regulated the expression of APX and GR. After rehydration for 4 days, the growth of drought-treated seedlings was restored to normal level for most of the physiological parameters. Foliar application of ALA maintained relatively higher leaf water status and enhanced chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, actual quantum yield of photosystem II, photochemical quenching, non-photochemical quenching and electron transport rates in stressed leaves. Exogenous ALA also alleviated the accumulation of MDA and hydrogen peroxide, increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes and enhanced the expression of CAT and POD in drought-treated plants. These results indicate that ALA may effectively protect rapeseed seedlings from damage induced by drought stress.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201303022), the National Key Science and Technology Supporting Program of China (2010BAD01B01), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31000678, 31071698) and the Science and Technology Department of Zhejiang Province (2012C12902-1, 2011R50026-5).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Crop Science and Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Dan Liu, Lingtong Wu, Muhammad Shahbaz Naeem, Hongbo Liu, Xiangqin Deng, Ling Xu, Fan Zhang & Weijun Zhou

  2. Department of Crop Physiology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan

    Muhammad Shahbaz Naeem

  3. Agricultural Experiment Station, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Weijun Zhou

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  1. Dan Liu
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  4. Hongbo Liu
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Correspondence to Weijun Zhou.

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Communicated by U. Feller.

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Liu, D., Wu, L., Naeem, M.S. et al. 5-Aminolevulinic acid enhances photosynthetic gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence and antioxidant system in oilseed rape under drought stress. Acta Physiol Plant 35, 2747–2759 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1307-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1307-9

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