Melatonin enhances drought tolerance by affecting jasmonic acid and lignin biosynthesis in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Mingzhao Luo; Daoping Wang; Pierre Delaplace; Yinghong Pan; Yongbin Zhou; Wensi Tang; Kai Chen; Jun Chen; Zhaoshi Xu; Youzhi Ma; Ming Chen

doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.107974

Melatonin enhances drought tolerance by affecting jasmonic acid and lignin biosynthesis in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Plant Physiol Biochem. 2023 Sep:202:107974. doi: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.107974. Epub 2023 Aug 16.

Authors

Mingzhao Luo¹, Daoping Wang², Pierre Delaplace³, Yinghong Pan², Yongbin Zhou², Wensi Tang², Kai Chen², Jun Chen², Zhaoshi Xu², Youzhi Ma⁴, Ming Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100081, China; University of Liege-GxABT, Agricultural Sciences Department, Plant Sciences and Productions Axis, Plant Biology Laboratory, Passage des Déportés, 2, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium.
² State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100081, China.
³ University of Liege-GxABT, Agricultural Sciences Department, Plant Sciences and Productions Axis, Plant Biology Laboratory, Passage des Déportés, 2, 5030, Gembloux, Belgium.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100081, China. Electronic address: mayouzhi@caas.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100081, China. Electronic address: chenming02@caas.cn.

PMID: 37632996
DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.107974

Abstract

Drought severely affects the yield of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), which is mainly grown in arid and semi-arid regions. Melatonin plays an important role in various types of stress resistance in plants, including drought resistance. However, the molecular mechanism through which melatonin affects drought tolerance remains largely unknown. In this study, we revealed that melatonin (100 μM) significantly improved drought resistance during the maturation stage of Chinese Spring, Shi4185, and Hanxuan10 varieties, but not Chang6878. Further physiological, transcriptomic, and proteomic data analysis at the wheat seedling stage revealed that melatonin increased jasmonic acid (JA) content, upregulating the expression of JA genes (LOX1.5 and LOX2.1) and two transcription factors (HY5 and MYB86) under drought conditions. It also upregulated genes related to lignin biosynthesis (4CL2, P5CS1, and CCR2) as well as starch and sucrose metabolism (PME53 and SUS4). Additionally, melatonin alleviated photosynthetic and cell membrane damage caused by drought stress through maintaining low levels of hydrogen peroxide. The current results elucidate melatonin-regulated pathways in wheat and provide evidence for using melatonin as a potential biostimulant to improve wheat drought resistance under field conditions in the future.

Keywords: Biostimulant; Drought; Hydrogen peroxide; Jasmonic acid; Lignin biosynthesis; Melatonin; Wheat.

MeSH terms

Drought Resistance*
Lignin
Melatonin*
Proteomics
Triticum / genetics

Substances

jasmonic acid
Lignin
Melatonin