Exogenous vanillic acid enhances salt tolerance of tomato: Insight into plant antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems

Khursheda Parvin; Kamrun Nahar; Mirza Hasanuzzaman; M H M Borhannuddin Bhuyan; Sayed Mohammad Mohsin; Masayuki Fujita

doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2020.02.030

Exogenous vanillic acid enhances salt tolerance of tomato: Insight into plant antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems

Plant Physiol Biochem. 2020 May:150:109-120. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2020.02.030. Epub 2020 Feb 21.

Authors

Khursheda Parvin¹, Kamrun Nahar², Mirza Hasanuzzaman³, M H M Borhannuddin Bhuyan⁴, Sayed Mohammad Mohsin⁵, Masayuki Fujita⁶

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Plant Stress Responses, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, 761-0795, Japan; Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh.
² Department of Agricultural Botany, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh.
³ Department of Agronomy, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh. Electronic address: mhzsauag@yahoo.com.
⁴ Citrus Research Station, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute, Jaintapur, Sylhet, 3156, Bangladesh.
⁵ Laboratory of Plant Stress Responses, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, 761-0795, Japan; Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, 1207, Bangladesh.
⁶ Laboratory of Plant Stress Responses, Faculty of Agriculture, Kagawa University, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, 761-0795, Japan. Electronic address: fujita@ag.kagawa-u.ac.jp.

PMID: 32135476
DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2020.02.030

Abstract

We investigated vanillic acid-induced salt tolerance in tomato by exploring the plant defense systems. Ten-d-old tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L. cv. Pusa Ruby) seedlings were treated with salt (NaCl; 150 mM) and vanillic acid (VA; 40 and 50 μM) separately and in combination with salt. Salinity restricted seedlings growth, biomass accumulation, chlorophyll and carotenoid contents. Salt-induced osmotic stress was indicated by lower leaf relative water content (RWC) and elevated proline (Pro) content, where higher Na⁺/K⁺ ratio indicated the ionic toxicity. Tomato seedlings went through oxidative damage due to acute reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and lipoxygenase (LOX) activity and confirmed by higher lipid peroxidation and membrane damage under salinity. Conversely, exogenous VA reduced osmotic and ionic toxicity in stressed-seedlings by enhancing the RWC and Pro level, and lowering Na⁺/K⁺ ratio, respectively. Exogenous VA up-regulated the components of antioxidant defense system in salt-treated seedlings resulted in the reduction of ROS production, LOX activity and membrane damage in stressed-seedlings. Additionally, VA application caused the reduction of toxic methylglyoxal accumulation under salt stress through the enhancement of glyoxalase system. Thus, VA-induced alleviation of osmotic, ionic and oxidative stresses leading to improve plant growth and chlorophyll synthesis in stressed-seedlings. So, VA significantly improves salinity tolerance and plant growth performance by involving the actions of plant antioxidant defense and glyoxalase systems.

Keywords: Abiotic stress; Methylglyoxal; Nutrient homeostasis; Oxidative stress; Phenolic compound; Solanum lycopersicum L..

MeSH terms

Oxidoreductases / metabolism
Salt Tolerance* / drug effects
Seedlings / drug effects
Solanum lycopersicum* / drug effects
Solanum lycopersicum* / enzymology
Stress, Physiological / drug effects
Vanillic Acid* / pharmacology

Substances

Oxidoreductases
Vanillic Acid