5-Aminolevulinic acid could enhance the salinity tolerance by alleviating oxidative damages in Salvia miltiorrhiza

Abstract

S. miltiorrhiza is a Chinese medicinal plant that is widely cultivated. The root growth in S. miltiorrhiza are inhibited by soil salinity. Here we investigated the capability of a plant growth regulator, 5-ALA to promote the growth of S. miltiorrhiza under different salt stresses. Five-month old S. miltiorrhiza roots were uniformly irrigated with different levels of salt solution i.e. 0, 100, 200 mM NaCl. After 3 days of treatment, salt-treated S. miltiorrhiza plants were sprayed with different concentrations of ALA (0, 10 mg L -1 , 20 mg L -1 ) on the leaves and cultured for another 7 days. Results revealed that ALA treated plants produced significantly higher biomass by sustaining leaf chlorophyll content under salt stressed. 10 mg L -1 ALA significantly up-regulated antioxidant enzymes activities under studied salinity treatments. Positive effects of ALA on antioxidant defense systems were also supported by a significant increase in the expression of SOD isoenzymes genes (CSD1, FSD1 and MSD2), defense response genes (DXS1, C4H, GGPPS) and stress-related gene (MYB36 , MYB39) of ALA treated plants. This study suggested that ALA can protect S. miltiorrhiza from salinity induced oxidative stress and injury by promoting antioxidant defense system, boosting secondary metabolic pathways and protecting photosynthetic pigments.

MeJA-mediated enhancement of salt-tolerance of Populus wutunensis by 5-aminolevulinic acid

“…Transcription factors (TFs) can interact with cis-elements within promoters to regulate the transcription of downstream genes and have an important role in plant resistance to abiotic stresses [ 68 ]. It was found that ALA-treatment induced gene expression of many different families of TFs that were shown to be regulators of the biosynthesis of different secondary metabolites, such as AP2/ERF, bHLH, MYB, NAC and WRKY, which agreed with previous studies [ 69 ]. These transcription factor families could act as central regulators and molecular switches in the complex salt stress signaling network by activating or repressing the specific expression of a gene or group of genes, whose products in turn would control the expression of downstream genes or directly protect plants from salt stress [ 70 ].…”

Isolation and Comprehensive in Silico Characterisation of a New 3-Hydroxy-3-Methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A Reductase 4 (HMGR4) Gene Promoter from Salvia miltiorrhiza: Comparative Analyses of Plant HMGR Promoters

“…Salt stress (50 mM, 100 mM, 200 mM, 300 mM NaCl) enhanced the expression and enzymatic activity of HMGR in leaves and roots over 48 h of exposure [ 62 ]. It was also found that 200 mM NaCl inhibited the level of HMGR1 transcript in leaves and roots as compared to the calibrator [ 63 ].…”

Regulation of 5-Aminolevunilic Acid and Its Application in Agroforestry

“…Since heme is an important prosthetic group of respiratory enzymes, its content is associated with the respiration of germinating seeds. Up to now, the promotion of ALA on plant salt tolerance has been demonstrated in many species, such as watermelons [56], muskmelons [136], Pinus sylvestris, P. tabuliformis, and Amorpha fruticosa [137], lettuce [138], date palms [139], wheat [140], strawberries [141], oilseed rape [142], Perilla frutescens [143,144], sunflowers [145], cucumbers [146,147], Silybum marianum [57], grapes [148], rice [149], Swiss chard [150], tomatoes [151][152][153], peaches [154], Leymus chinensis [155], pumpkins [156], asparagus [157], Atropa belladonna [158], cauliflower [159], jujube [160,161], peanuts [162], Swiss chard [163], maize [164], Salvia miltiorrhiza [165], and Arundo donax [166].…”