Abstract
Drought stress is one of the most important agricultural problems limiting development and growth in plants. Therefore, mechanisms to alleviate drought stress have been one of the major limiting factors in production. H2O2 pretreatment has emerged as a method to induce stress acclimation in plants. In this study, the effects of H2O2 leaf pretreatment on plant growth, antioxidative enzymes, soluble protein, and organic solute content in maize plants under conditions of drought stress were analyzed. Results demonstrated that drought stress reduced shoot and root mass compared with the control, and H2O2 leaf spraying significantly improved the growth of drought-stressed plants. In general, in drought-stressed plants, CAT, APX, GPX, and SOD activities in roots and leaves were increased by H2O2 leaf spraying relative to water spraying. GPX was the main H2O2-scavenging enzyme in leaves and roots, and CAT activity was not detected in the leaves of maize plants. Increased organic solute contents (proteins, carbohydrates, soluble proline, and amino acids) were found in the leaves and mainly in the roots of H2O2-stressed plants relative to water-stressed plants. In conclusion, it was found that H2O2 leaf spraying pretreatment reduced the deleterious effects of drought stress on maize plant growth. This treatment proved to be a beneficial health strategy in plants. This effect could be attributed to the ability of H2O2 to induce antioxidant defense system activity, particularly GPX, and to increase organic solute (protein, carbohydrate, proline, and free amino acid) content in roots and leaves.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- ROS:
-
Reactive oxygen species
- SOD:
-
Superoxide dismutase
- CAT:
-
Catalase
- GPX:
-
Guaiacol peroxidase
- APX:
-
Ascorbate peroxidase
- H2O2 :
-
Hydrogen peroxide
- FM:
-
Fresh mass
- NBT:
-
Nitrobluetetrazolium
- SDM:
-
Shoot dry mass
- RDM:
-
Root dry mass
- TDM:
-
Total dry mass
References
Ahmed CH, Rouina BB, Sensoy S, Boukhriss M, Abdullah FB (2010) Exogenous proline effects on photosynthetic performance and antioxidant defense system of young olive tree. J Agr Food Chem 58:4216–4222. doi:10.1021/jf9041479
Ashraf M, Foolad MR (2013a) Crop breeding for salt tolerance in the era of molecular markers and marker-assisted selection. Plant Breeding 132:10–20. doi:10.1111/pbr.12000
Ashraf M, Foolad MR (2013b) Crop breeding for salt tolerance in the era of molecular markers and marker-assisted selection. Plant Breeding 132:10–20. doi:10.1111/pbr.12000
Azevedo Neto AD, Prisco JT, Enéas-Filho JM, Medeiros, J-VR, Gomes Filho E (2005) Hydrogen peroxide pre-treatment induces salt-stress acclimation in maize plants. J Plant Physiol 162:1114–1122. doi:10.1016/j.jplph.2005.01.007
Azevedo Neto AD, Gomes Filho E, Prisco JT (2008) Salinity and oxidative Stress. In: Khan NA, Singh S (eds) Abiotic stress and plant responses, 1st edn. IK International, New Delhi, pp 58–82
Bates LS, Waldren RP, Teare ID (1973) Rapid determination of free proline for water-stress studies. Plant Soil 39:205–207. doi:10.1007/BF00018060
Beers RF Jr, Sizer IW (1952) A spectrophotometric method for measuring the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide by catalase. J Biol Chem 195:133–140
Bradford MM (1976) A rapid and sensitive method for the quantification of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding. Anal Biochem 72:248–254. doi:10.1016/0003-2697(76)90527-3
Cartwright J (2007) Big stars have weather too. IOP Publishing PhysicsWeb. http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/11/6/16/1. Accessed 26 June 2007
Chinnusamy V, Jagendorf A, Zhu JK (2005) Understanding and improving salt tolerance in plants. Crop Sci 45:437–448. doi:10.2135/cropsci2005.0437
Couée I, Sulmon C, Gouesbet G, El Amrani A (2006) Involvement of soluble sugars in reactive oxygen species balance and responses to oxidative stress in plants. J Exp Bot 57:449–459. doi:10.1093/jxb/erj027
Demiral T, Türkan I (2005) Comparative lipid peroxidation, antioxidant defense systems and proline content in roots of two rice cultivars differing in salt tolerance. Environ Exp Bot 53:247–257. doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2004.03.017
DuBois M, Gilles KA, Hamilton JK (1956) Colorimetric method for determination of sugars and related substances. Anal Chem 28:350–356. doi:10.1021/ac60111a017
Foyer CH, Noctor G (2016) Stress-triggered redox signalling: What’s in pROSpect? Plant Cell Environ 39(2):951–64. doi:10.1111/pce.12621
Giannopolitis CN, Ries SK (1977) Superoxide dismutases. Occurrence higher plants. Plant Physiol 59:309-314.
Gill SS, Tuteja N (2010) Reactive oxygen species and antioxidant machinery in abiotic stress tolerance in crop plants. Plant Physiol Bioch 48:909–930. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2010.08.016
Gondim FA, Gomes-Filho E, Costa JHE, Alencar NLM, Prisco JT (2012) Catalase plays a key role in salt stress acclimation induced by hydrogen peroxide pretreatment in maize. Plant Physiol Bioch 56:62–71. doi:10.1016/j.plaphy.2012.04.012
Heuer B, Nadler A (1998) Physiological response of potato plants to soil salinity and water deficit. Plant Sci 137:43–51. doi:10.1016/S0168-9452(98)00133-2
HongBo S, ZongSuoa L, MingAna S (2005) Changes of some anti-oxidative enzymes under soil water deficits among 10 wheat genotypes at maturation stage. Colloid Surf B 45:7–13. doi:10.1016/j.colsurfb.2005.06.016
Hossain MA, Bhattacharjee, Armin S-M, Qian P, Xin W, Li H-Y, Burritt DJ, Fujita M, Tran LP (2015) Hydrogen peroxide priming modulates abiotic oxidative stress tolerance: insights from ROS detoxification and scavenging. Front Plant Sci. 6:420–439. doi:10.3389/fpls.2015.00420
Ishibashi Y, Yamaguchi H, Yuasa T, Inwaya-Inoue M, Arima S, Zheng S (2011) Hydrogen peroxide spraying alleviates drought stress in soybean plants. J Plant Physiol 168:1562–1567. doi:10.1016/j.jplph.2011.02.003
Khedr AHA, Abbas MA, Wahid AAA, Quick WP, Abogadallah GM (2003) Proline induces the expression of salt-stress responsive proteins and may improve the adaptation of Pancratium maritimum L. to salt-stress. J Exp Bot 54:2553–2562. doi:10.1093/jxb/erg277
Lisar SYS, Motafakkerazad R, Hossain MM, Rahman IMM (2012) Water stress in plants: causes, effects and responses, water stress. In: Rahman MMI (ed) Water stress, 1st edn. InTech, Rijeka, pp 1–14
Miller G, Suzuki N, Ciftci-Yilmaz S, Mittler R (2010) Reactive oxygen species homeostasis and signalling during drought and salinity stresses. Plant Cell Environ 33:453–467. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3040.2009.02041.x
Møller IM, Jensen PE, Hansson A (2007) Oxidative modifications to cellular components in plants. Annu Rev Plant Biol 58:459–481. doi:10.1146/annurev.arplant.58.032806.103946
Munns R, Tester M (2008) Mechanisms of salinity tolerance. Annu Rev Plant Biol 59:651–681. doi:10.1146/annurev.arplant.59.032607.092911
Nakano Y, Asada K (1981) Hydrogen peroxide is scavenged by ascorbate-specific peroxidase in spinash chloroplasts. Plant Cell Physiol 22:867–880
Neill S, Desikan R, Hancock J (2002) Hydrogen peroxide signaling. Curr Opin Plant Biol 5:388–395. doi:10.1016/S1369-5266(02)00282-0
Niu L, Liao W (2016) Hydrogen peroxide signaling in plant development and abiotic responses: crosstalk with nitric oxide and calcium. Front Plant Sci 7:230. doi:10.3389/fpls.2016.00230
Noctor G, Mhamdi A, Foyer CH (2014) The roles of reactive oxygen metabolism in drought: not so cut and dried. Plant Physiol 164(4):1636–1648
Paes MCD (2006) Aspectos Físicos, Químicos e Tecnológicos dos Grãos do Milho. Ministério da Agricultura Pecuária e Abastecimento, Circular Técnica n.º 75. http://www.agricultura.gov.br/arq_editor/file/Aniamal/…/Circular%20175.doc. Acessed 13 july 2015
Petrov VD, Van Breusegem F (2012) Hydrogen peroxide—a central hub for information flow in plant cells. AoB Plants pls014. doi: 10.1093/aobpla/pls014
Sakamoto A, Murata N (2002) The role of glycine betaine in the protection of plants from stress: clues from transgenic plants. Plant Cell Environ 25:163–171. doi:10.1046/j.0016-8025.2001.00790.x
Smirnoff N (1998) Plant resistance to environmental stress. Curr Opin Biotech 9:214–219. doi:10.1016/S0958-1669(98)80118-3
Sofo A, Scopa A, Nuzzaci M, Vitti A (2015) Ascorbate peroxidase and catalase activities and their genetic regulation in plants subjected to drought and salinity stresses. Int J Mol Sci 16:13561–13578. doi:10.3390/ijms160613561
Talbi S, Romero-Puertas MC, Hernández A, Terrón L, Ferchichi A, Sandalio LM (2015) Drought tolerance in a Saharian plant Oudneya africana: role of antioxidant defences. Environ Exp Bot 111:114–126. doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2014.11.004
Uchida A, Jagendorf AT, Hibino T, Takabe T, Takabe T (2002) Effects of hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide on both salt and heat stress tolerance in rice. Plant Sci 163:515–523. doi:10.1016/S0168-9452(02)00159-0
Türkan I, Demiral T (2009) Recent developments in understanding salinity tolerance. Environ Exp Bot 67:2–9. doi:10.1016/j.envexpbot.2009.05.008
Urbanek H, Kuzniak-Gebarowska E, Herka K (1991) Elicitation of defense responses in bean leaves by Botrytis cinerea polygalacturonase. Acta Physiol Plant 13:43–50
Wang W, Vinocur B, Altman A (2003) Plant responses to drought, salinity and extreme temperatures: towards genetic engineering for stress tolerance. Planta 218:1–14. doi:10.1007/s00425-003-1105-5
Yemm EW, Cocking EC (1955) The determination of amino acids with ninhydrin. Analyst 80:209–213. doi:10.1039/AN9558000209
Yuanyuan M, Yali Z, Jiang L, Hongbo S (2009) Roles of plant soluble sugars and their responses to plant cold stress. Afr J Biotechnol 8:2004–2010
Zhao HQ, Wang L, Hong J, Zhao XY, Yu XH, Sheng L, Hang CZ, Zhao Y, Lin AA, Si WH, Hong FS (2014) Oxidative stress of maize roots caused by a combination of both salt stress and manganese deprivation. Cereal Res Commun 42:568–577. doi:10.1556/CRC.2014.0005
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Fundação Cearense de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (FUNCAP) for scholarship for Déborah Pâmela Freire de Sousa.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
de Sousa, D.P.F., Braga, B.B., Gondim, F.A. et al. Increased drought tolerance in maize plants induced by H2O2 is closely related to an enhanced enzymatic antioxidant system and higher soluble protein and organic solutes contents. Theor. Exp. Plant Physiol. 28, 297–306 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40626-016-0069-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40626-016-0069-3