Role of Signaling Molecules Sodium Nitroprusside and Arginine in Alleviating Salt-Induced Oxidative Stress in Wheat

Marwa M Ragaey; Mervat Shamoon Sadak; Mona F A Dawood; Nermin H S Mousa; Rania Samy Hanafy; Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef

doi:10.3390/plants11141786

Role of Signaling Molecules Sodium Nitroprusside and Arginine in Alleviating Salt-Induced Oxidative Stress in Wheat

Plants (Basel). 2022 Jul 6;11(14):1786. doi: 10.3390/plants11141786.

Authors

Marwa M Ragaey¹, Mervat Shamoon Sadak², Mona F A Dawood³, Nermin H S Mousa³, Rania Samy Hanafy⁴, Arafat Abdel Hamed Abdel Latef⁵

Affiliations

¹ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, New Valley University, Al-Kharja 72511, Egypt.
² Botany Department, Agricultural and Biological Research Institute, National Research Centre, 33 El Bohouth Street, Dokki, Giza 12622, Egypt.
³ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut 761515, Egypt.
⁴ Biological and Geological Sciences Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Cairo 11341, Egypt.
⁵ Botany and Microbiology Department, Faculty of Science, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.

Abstract

Nitric oxide (NO) is a well-accepted signaling molecule that has regulatory effects on plants under various stresses. Salinity is a major issue that adversely affects plant growth and productivity. The current study was carried out to investigate changes in the growth, biochemical parameters, and yield of wheat plants in response to NO donors, namely sodium nitroprusside (SNP) (2.5 and 5.0 mM) and arginine (10 and 20 mM), under two salinity levels (1.2 mM and 85.5 mM NaCl). Salinity stress significantly decreased the lengths and weights of plant parts (shoot, tiller, and root) and reduced the flag leaf area, photosynthetic pigments, indole acetic acid (IAA), and yield and its components. Moreover, salt stress induced a significant accumulation of some osmoprotectants (total soluble sugars (TSS) and amino acids, especially proline) and triggered the accumulation of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and lipid peroxidation in wheat leaves. In contrast, arginine and SNP treatments significantly mitigated the negative impacts of salinity on growth and productivity via enhancing photosynthetic pigments, nitrate reductase, phenolic compounds, IAA, TSS, free amino acids, and proline. In addition, SNP and arginine potentially reduced oxidative damage by decreasing H₂O₂ and lipid peroxidation through the induction of antioxidant enzymes. The individual amino acid composition of wheat grains under the interactive effect of salinity and NO sources has been scarcely documented until now. In this study, the NO sources restrained the reduction in essential amino acids (isoleucine and lysine) of wheat grains under salinity stress and further stimulated the contents of non-essential and total aromatic amino acids. Interestingly, the applied protectants recovered the decrease in arginine and serine induced by salinity stress. Thus, SNP or arginine at the levels of 5.0 and 20 mM, respectively, had a profound effect on modulating the salt stress of wheat throughout the life cycle.

Keywords: amino acid profile; antioxidant enzymes; arginine; salt stress; sodium nitroprusside.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.