Resemblance and Difference of Seedling Metabolic and Transporter Gene Expression in High Tolerance Wheat and Barley Cultivars in Response to Salinity Stress

Abstract

To elucidate inter-specific similarity and difference of tolerance mechanism against salinity stress between wheat and barley, high tolerant wheat cv. Suntop and sensitive cv. Sunmate and tolerant barley cv. CM72 were hydroponically grown in a greenhouse with 100 mM NaCl. Glutathione, secondary metabolites, and genes associated with Na+ transport, defense, and detoxification were examined to discriminate the species/cultivar difference in response to salinity stress. Suntop and CM72 displayed damage to a lesser extent than in Sunmate. Compared to Sunmate, both Suntop and CM72 recorded lower electrolyte leakage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, higher leaf relative water content, and higher activity of PAL (phenylalanine ammonia-lyase), CAD (cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase), PPO (polyphenol oxidase), SKDH (shikimate dehydrogenase), and more abundance of their mRNA under salinity stress. The expression of HKT1, HKT2, salt overly sensitive (SOS)1, AKT1, and NHX1 was upregulated in CM72 and Suntop, while downregulated in Sunmate. The transcription factor WRKY 10 was significantly induced in Suntop but suppressed in CM72 and Sunmate. Higher oxidized glutathione (GSSG) content was accumulated in cv. CM72 and Sunmate, but increased glutathione (GSH) content and the ratio of GSH/GSSG were observed in leaves and roots of Suntop under salinity stress. In conclusion, glutathione homeostasis and upregulation of the TaWRKY10 transcription factor played a more important role in wheat salt-tolerant cv. Suntop, which was different from barley cv. CM72 tolerance to salinity stress. This new finding could help in developing salinity tolerance in wheat and barley cultivars.

Agronomical, physiological and molecular evaluation reveals superior salt-tolerance in bread wheat through salt-induced priming approach

“…Notably, the salt-pretreated group (priming + shock) was outperforming the non-pretreated group (shock only) by boosting the TaNHX1 expression levels, supporting the salt-induced priming effect approach in enhancing the salt tolerance levels in wheat plants under salt-stress conditions. The results disclosed an agreement with the previous work of Zeeshan et al (2020); as they treated the high tolerant wheat cultivar (Suntop) and the sensitive wheat cultivar (Sunmate) with 100 mM NaCl. They found that the expression level of the NHX1 gene was upregulated in Suntop (tolerant cultivar) while downregulated in Sunmate (sensitive cultivar).…”

“…Our finding showed that the expression level of the TaAKT1 gene in the salt-pretreated group (priming+shock) was higher than the non-pretreated group (shock only). This finding was in complete agreement with Zeeshan et al (2020), in which they found that the expression of the TaAKT1 gene was significantly upregulated under salinity stress in the tolerant wheat cultivar ('Suntop') while downregulated in the sensitive wheat cultivar ('Sunmate').…”

Abscisic Acid—Enemy or Savior in the Response of Cereals to Abiotic and Biotic Stresses?

“…Highly increased activities of PAL and cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), the latter being an enzyme responsible for lignin biosynthesis, in salinity-resistant barley clearly suggested their involvement in the tolerance mechanisms. In the tolerant wheat cultivar, a similar reaction was observed, but it was not as strong as that noticed in the resistant cultivar of barley [ 114 ].…”

Label-Free Proteomic Analysis of Smoke-Drying and Shade-Drying Processes of Postharvest Rhubarb: A Comparative Study

“…In plants, the shikimate pathway responds to differential environmental stresses (e.g., wounding, herbivore and microbial attack, or nitrogen starvation) ( Weaver and Herrmann, 1997 ). Salt stress is known to promote shikimate dehydrogenase activity in wheat ( Zeeshan et al, 2020 ), whereas chorismate synthase critically impacts barley–powdery mildew interactions ( Hu et al, 2009 ). In the current study, the expressions of shikimate dehydrogenase (aroDE), 3-phosphoshikimate 1-carboxyvinyltransferase (aroA), and chorismate synthase (aroC) were significantly up-regulated in shade-drying vs. fresh and smoke-drying vs. fresh.…”