The Combined Analysis of Transcriptome and Antioxidant Enzymes Revealed the Mechanism of EBL and ZnO NPs Enhancing Styrax tonkinensis Seed Abiotic Stress Resistance

Abstract

As global climate change worsens, trees will have difficulties adapting to abiotic pressures, particularly in the field, where environmental characteristics are difficult to control. A prospective commercial and ornamental tree species, Styrax tonkinensis, has its seed oil output and quality reduced as a result, which lowers the economic benefits. This necessitates growers to implement efficient strategies to increase the seeds of woody biofuel species’ tolerance to abiotic stress. Numerous studies have shown that ZnO nanoparticles (NPs), a new material, and BRs assist plants to increase their resilience to abiotic stress and subsequently adapt to it. However, there have not been many investigations into S. tonkinensis seed resistance. In this study, we examined the changes in antioxidant enzyme activities and transcriptomic results of S. tonkinensis seeds throughout the seed development period to investigate the effects of 24-epibrassinolide (EBL), one of the BRs, and ZnO NPs treatments alone or together on the stress resistance of S. tonkinensis seeds. On 70, 100, and 130 days after flowering (DAF), spraying EBL or ZnO NPs increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes (POD, SOD, and CAT) in S. tonkinensis seeds. Moreover, when the EBL and ZnO NPs were sprayed together, the activities of antioxidant enzymes were the strongest, which suggests that the positive effects of the two can be superimposed. On 70 and 100 DAF, the EBL and ZnO NPs treatments improved seed stress resistance, mostly through complex plant hormone crosstalk signaling, which includes IAA, JA, BR, and ABA signaling. Additionally, ABA played an essential role in hormone crosstalk, while, on 130 DAF, due to the physiological characteristics of seeds themselves in the late stage of maturity, the improvement in seed stress resistance by EBL and ZnO NPs was related to protein synthesis, especially late embryogenesis-abundant protein (LEA), and other nutrient storage in seeds. Spraying EBL and ZnO NPs during the seed growth of S. tonkinensis could significantly increase seed stress resistance. Our findings provide fresh perspectives on how cultural practices can increase abiotic stress tolerance in woody seedlings.

Integrative Effects of Zinc Nanoparticle and PGRs to Mitigate Salt Stress in Maize

“…Foliar application of ZnO-NPs at 100 mgL −1 improved nutrient uptake both for macronutrients (i.e., K + , Ca 2+ , P, and Mg 2+ ) and micronutrients (i.e., Zn 2+ and Fe 2+ ) in Solanum tuberosum L. under drought stress [18]. Brassinosteroids as plant growth regulators controlled the inorganic ions uptake by decreasing toxic accumulation of excess ions in roots and leaves in Brassica napus L. under saline stress [31]. Furthermore, exogenous application of BR enhanced the enzymatic activity of H + -ATPase and Ca 2+ -ATPase responsible for maintenance of electrochemical gradient and ionic balance to overcome various abiotic stresses in plants.…”

“…Brassinosteroids (BRs) are phytohormones that widely exist throughout the plant kingdom and play an important role in seed germination, seedling development, and plant growth. An active by-product from brassinolide biosynthesis is 24-epibrassinolide (EBL), which can mitigate the abiotic stresses in different plants [29][30][31]. It can improve the activity of photosynthetic enzymes in plants such as phosphoenol-pyruvate carboxylase (PEPcase), adenosine triphosphate synthetase (ATPase) and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBPase).…”

WGCNA Reveals Hub Genes and Key Gene Regulatory Pathways of the Response of Soybean to Infection by Soybean mosaic virus

“…The qualitative and quantitative assessments of the RNA were detected using a Nanodrop2000 (NanoDrop Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). The deterioration and contamination of RNA was detected using 1% agarose gel electrophoresis [44], and RNA integrity (RIN) was determined with an 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Finally, only RNA samples that met the following criteria were used to construct the sequencing library: OD260/280 =1.8~2.2, OD 260/230 ≥ 2.0, and RIN ≥ 7.0 [45].…”

“…ROS are unavoidable by-products of metabolism [44]. In infected plants, the accumulation of ROS has a dual role.…”

Foliar spraying of potassium gluconate promotes the synthesis of the seed oil of Styrax tonkinensis

“…Styrax tonkinensis , also known as Vietnamese benzoin, is a deciduous tree in the benzoin family, mainly distributed in Vietnam, Laos, and southern China (Wang et al, 2021), and as a woody biodiesel species, its seeds have a high oil content and the proportion of unsaturated fatty acids in its seed oil is high, especially oleic acid (18:1) and linoleic acid (18:2), which meet the biodiesel standards of the USA, Germany, EU, and China (Wu et al, 2020; Wu et al, 2021). The great potential utilization of S. tonkinensis seed oil has attracted great interest from researchers (Liu, Faizan, et al, 2022).…”