The Effect of Glycine Betaine on Nitrogen and Polyamine Metabolisms, Expression of Glycoside-Related Biosynthetic Enzymes, and K/Na Balance of Stevia under Salt Stress

Abazar Ghorbani; Vali Ollah Ghasemi-Omran; Moxian Chen

doi:10.3390/plants12081628

The Effect of Glycine Betaine on Nitrogen and Polyamine Metabolisms, Expression of Glycoside-Related Biosynthetic Enzymes, and K/Na Balance of Stevia under Salt Stress

Plants (Basel). 2023 Apr 12;12(8):1628. doi: 10.3390/plants12081628.

Authors

Abazar Ghorbani¹, Vali Ollah Ghasemi-Omran², Moxian Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ National Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide, Key Laboratory of Green Pesticide and Agricultural Bioengineering, Ministry of Education, Center for R&D of Fine Chemicals of Guizhou University, Guiyang 550025, China.
² Department of Agronomy, Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute of Tabarestan, Sari Agricultural Science and Natural Resources University, Sari 68984, Iran.

Abstract

The beneficial role of glycine betaine (GB) in the adaptation of plants to abiotic stresses is well known; therefore, the study of physiological and molecular responses induced by exogenous GB under NaCl stress can provide a suitable reference for the application of this compound to enhance the adaptation of plants to salinity. The present study was conducted under in vitro conditions to evaluate the effect of GB (25 and 50 mM) on the growth, physiological, and molecular traits of Stevia rebaudiana during NaCl toxicity (50 mM). The results showed that applying NaCl treatment increased Na accumulation, induced oxidative stress, and disrupted N metabolism and K/Na homeostasis, which, as a result, decreased the stevia plant's growth and biomass. However, application of GB improved the adaptation of NaCl-stressed plants by improving N metabolism and modulating the metabolism of polyamines. By increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes, GB diminished oxidative stress, protected the plasma membrane, and restored photosynthetic pigments under NaCl toxicity. By reducing Na accumulation and increasing K accumulation, GB maintained the K/Na balance and reduced the effects of toxicity caused by the high Na concentration in stevia leaves. GB increased the leaf accumulation of rebaudioside A in NaCl-stressed plants by modulating the expression of genes (KAH, UGT74G1, UGT76G1, and UGT85C2) involved in the sugar compounds of the stevia plants. Our results provide a broad understanding of GB-induced responses in NaCl-stressed plants, which can help increase our knowledge of the role of GB in the defense mechanisms of plants under abiotic stresses.

Keywords: NaCl stress; glycine betaine; nitrogen metabolism; polyamine metabolism; steviol glycosides.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Projects (ZK[2023]-099), the Program of Introducing Talent to Chinese Universities (111 Program, D20023), the Frontiers Science Center for Asymmetric Synthesis and Medicinal Molecules, Department of Education, Guizhou Province (Qianjiaohe KY (2020)004).