Abstract
Salinity, as a serious and prevalent abiotic stress, causes widespread crop losses by restricting plant growth and production throughout the world. In this study, the biochemical and molecular responses of the pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) plant were studied under NaCl and salicylic acid (SA) treatments using hydroponically grown salt tolerant (Ghazvini) and salt sensitive (Sarakhs) pistachio cultivars. NaCl treatment (250 mM) increased the production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activity of antioxidant enzymes in both cultivars. In the sensitive cultivar, the H2O2 content was higher than the tolerant cultivar, especially in the roots. SA application to both salt-stress-treated cultivars resulted in an increase in photosynthetic pigment contents and antioxidant enzyme activity and a decrease in the H2O2 and MDA contents. After NaCl treatment, the isochorismate synthase (ICS) gene was upregulated in Ghazvini which leads to an increase in the SA content of the salt tolerant pistachio cultivar. In contrast, the salt treatment downregulated the expression of the ICS gene in Sarakhs. The ICS gene expression was positively regulated by SA treatment under the salt stress condition. Our results suggest that Ghazvini has higher salinity tolerance than Sarakhs due to its higher antioxidant capacity, photosynthetic pigment content, and the cultivar-specific expression pattern of the ICS gene. In this study, the potential alleviative effects of SA on the adverse effect of salt stress in P. vera (Pistacia vera) were also identified and highlighted.
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Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate the partial financial support of the Iranian National Science Foundation (INSF), Tehran, Iran and the Council of the Technological Development of Water, Drought, Erosion and Environment (WDEE), Tehran, Iran, with regard to this study.
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This study was supported by College of Science, University of Tehran, and National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
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The design of the study and the drafting of the manuscript were performed by MJ, SMS, and VN. The experiment and analysis of the data were conducted by MJ. The supervision was performed by EGK and HE. All of the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Jannesar, M., Seyedi, S.M., Niknam, V. et al. Salicylic Acid, as a Positive Regulator of Isochorismate Synthase, Reduces the Negative Effect of Salt Stress on Pistacia vera L. by Increasing Photosynthetic Pigments and Inducing Antioxidant Activity. J Plant Growth Regul 41, 1304–1315 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-021-10383-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-021-10383-6