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Hydrogen Sulfide Promotes Wheat Grain Germination Under Cadmium Stress

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, India Section B: Biological Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) has proved to be a multifunctional signaling molecule involved in plant development and response to abiotic stresses. In the present study, the effects of H2S donor, sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) on the germination of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains under cadmium stress was investigated. With the increase in Cd concentration, the germination percentage of wheat grains decreased steadily. NaHS pretreatment alleviated cadmium-induced germination inhibition in a dose-dependent manner, with the optimal concentration of 0.9 mM. Further studies showed that NaHS pretreatment could promote the activities of amylase and esterase, reducing cadmium-induced disturbance of plasma membrane integrity in the radicle tips, and sustain lower levels of superoxide radicals, hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde in germinating wheat grains. Besides, NaHS significantly promoted the accumulation of free amino acids in grains exposed to cadmium. Further investigation showed that NaHS pretreatment stimulated the activities of peroxidase, catalase and acorbate peroxidase and inhibited that of lipoxygenase. In addition, a higher level of endogenous H2S in wheat grains was observed in NaHS-pretreated wheat grains. These data indicate that H2S ameliorated cadmium-stress in germinating wheat grains by modulating the antioxidant system.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support from Russell Jones for critical reading of the manuscript. This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (31271803, 31301820, 31300133), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars (SRF for ROCS, MOE), the Natural Science Foundations of Anhui Province (11040606M85), the Anhui Provincial Education Department (2012AJZR0028), and Open Fund of Key Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Regulation Biology, Ministry of Education.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and do not have any financial relationship with the organization that sponsored the research in the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Xuzhou Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Xuhuai Region of Jiangsu Province, Xuzhou, 221131, People’s Republic of China

    Zhong-Qin Huang

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

    Shao-Can Ye, Lan-Ying Hu, Kang-Di Hu, Hao Jiao & Hua Zhang

  3. Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Technology of College of Heilongjiang Province, College of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin, 150080, People’s Republic of China

    Hong Yan

  4. Key Laboratory of Cell Proliferation and Regulation Biology, Ministry of Education, College of Life Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, People’s Republic of China

    Wan-Jie Li

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  1. Zhong-Qin Huang
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Correspondence to Hua Zhang.

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Huang, ZQ., Ye, SC., Hu, LY. et al. Hydrogen Sulfide Promotes Wheat Grain Germination Under Cadmium Stress. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., India, Sect. B Biol. Sci. 86, 887–895 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-015-0554-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40011-015-0554-5

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