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Involvement of compatible solutes in chill hardening-induced chilling tolerance in Jatropha curcas seedlings

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Abstract

Low temperature is a major environmental factor that affects metabolism, growth, development, distribution and production of chilling-sensitive plant, and J. curcas L. is a sustainable energy plant with great potential for biodiesel production due to the fact that its seed contains high oil content, which has attracted much attention worldwide. Our previous work found that the chill hardening improved the chilling tolerance of J. curcas seedlings (Ao et al. in Acta Physiologiae Plantarum 35:153–160, 2013), but its mechanism still remains elusive. In present work, the mechanism of chill hardening-induced chilling tolerance was further investigated in J. curcas seedlings. The results showed that chill hardening at 12 °C for 2 days markedly lowered osmotic and water potentials, which, in turn, maintained relative higher pressure potential in leaves of J. curcas seedlings compared with the control seedlings without chill hardening. In addition, chill hardening gradually increased compatible solutes proline, betaine and total soluble sugar contents compared with the control. When the control and hardened seedlings were subjected to chilling stress at 1 °C for 1–7 days, the chill-hardened seedlings significantly accumulated higher proline, betaine and total soluble sugar contents, which decreased osmotic and water potentials, and maintained higher pressure potential. To further understand the pathways of accumulation of compatible solutes, measurement of activities of ∆1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), ornithine aminotransferase (OAT), arginase, proline dehydrogenase (ProDH) and betaine dehydrogenase (BADH) showed that the chill hardening at 12 °C for 2 days obviously increased the activities of P5CS, GDH, OAT, arginase and BADH, as well as lowered ProDH activity both in leaves and stems of J. curcas seedlings to some extent as compared with the control. When the control and hardened seedlings were exposed to chilling stress at 1 °C for 1–7 days, the chill-hardened seedlings generally maintained significantly higher activities of P5CS, GDH, OAT, arginase and BADH. All above-mentioned results illustrated that the chill hardening could induce an accumulation of compatible solutes in leaves of J. curcas seedlings and compatible solutes play important roles in chill hardening-induced chilling tolerance.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

BADH:

Betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase

GDH:

Glutamate dehydrogenase

OAT:

Ornithine aminotransferase

P5CS:

∆1-Pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase

ProDH:

Proline dehydrogenase

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Key Grant of Education Department of Yunnan Province of China (ZD 2010004), Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province of China (2010ZC066).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, Engineering Research Center of Sustainable Development and Utilization of Biomass Energy, Ministry of Education, Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Environmental Biotechnology, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, 650092, Yunnan, People’s Republic of China

    Ping-Xing Ao, Zhong-Guang Li & Ming Gong

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  1. Ping-Xing Ao
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  2. Zhong-Guang Li
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  3. Ming Gong
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Correspondence to Ming Gong.

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Communicated by P. Sowinski.

Z.-G. Li and P.-X. Ao contributed equally to this work.

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Ao, PX., Li, ZG. & Gong, M. Involvement of compatible solutes in chill hardening-induced chilling tolerance in Jatropha curcas seedlings. Acta Physiol Plant 35, 3457–3464 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1381-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-013-1381-z

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